Sunshine
by silversurf4
Summary: Sequel to Sarah - begins where Sarah left off. Crews & Reese throughout - departure from canon, but hopefully true to these fine characters. Rated for sex, violence and language. If you aren't old enough...don't read it. COMPLETED 24 Sep 2013.
1. Prologue

**Sunshine - Prologue**

**Author's Note: **_This tale picks up where Sarah left off. Relax, it's just a prologue so there's plenty of time to read Sarah and catch up. Sarah departs drastically from canon in the first chapter, but I hope stays somewhat true to the characters from Life. Also I haven't entirely finished this tale yet, but got tired of the lack of new Life fic out there, so I'm posting as I go. Should you see something, say something - not one scintilla of feedback is wasted effort. More tomorrow, promise -Surfer._

* * *

They'd been out all night. They'd been everywhere they could imagine Rayborn might be and even some places they knew he'd never be - out of sheer desperation. Both of his houses were empty, the penthouse apartment he kept downtown and the big house his family lived in. His boat was docked, but unattended. Even Rayborn's personal angel, Amanda Puryer, "claimed" she was unable to locate him. So she insisted even in the face of Crews' menacing snarl and completely unveiled threats of bodily harm. Clearly, she was respectful of what Crews could do, but she "couldn't tell them what she didn't know."

Crews seemed angry enough he might snap her neck, but for the light but controlling touch of Dani Reese on his arm.

It was clear now, that she held his leash. Just before they'd left, Amanda pulled Dani aside with words meant only between women.

"He cares deeply for you, perhaps more than even he is aware," Puryer told Dani something she already knew. "He was singularly focused when looking for you, but this is something else isn't it? It's not just Rayborn you are looking for is it?" she pressed.

"What makes you say that?" Dani questioned cagily. She did not show her cards or share her secret with this woman, nor had she allowed Crews to - something made her guard that secret even now.

Trust was something earned and only Crews possessed that currency from her now.

"There's a ferocity, an edge to him…" Puryer ventured a guess attempting to ferret out the truth, "something even more troubling to him has occurred. More troubling than losing a woman he clearly loves - to a psychopath..." She waited for Dani to fill the void, but she did not.

"He looked for you as if life depended on finding you, not just your life, but his. But this…this is different," she fished harder.

"Yes, it is," was all she got from Dani.

Dani Reese met him at the car and with a barely perceptible shake of her head told him this "talk" was off limits. He respected her space and just drove. He never said a word. Ten minutes down the road she covered his hand with hers and left it there. She felt him ease slightly. She knew she should have been panicked, but she wasn't. Something in her knew Rayborn would not harm Sarah and she knew Crews would find him or Rayborn would reveal himself when he was ready. There was a price to be named, but she wasn't sure it was one either of them would be willing to pay. However, she knew...that Crews would do dangerous things to recover her daughter and his life was no longer something she wanted him to trade.

It may have been greedy, but Dani Reese was certain there was a way to get Sarah back and not lose Crews in the bargain. They were small, broken and imperfect, but they were her family. She promised herself she was going to find a way to keep them together - or make one.


	2. Chapter 1

It was very early morning when they arrived back home. Daylight was weakly breaking and the adrenaline that powered them through the night had worn off. Speech between them had ground to a halt hours ago. There were no clever things to say, no Zen that brought comfort and no "talk" about a subject they were both avoiding. Sarah had held them together. After what didn't happen in Mexico, they were unstable and uncertain; without her, neither was sure of the other.

Shock set in paralyzing them. They had run out of places to search, things to do and people to talk with. Never had Dani Reese experienced such a sense of loss – not even when David died. But what most profoundly frightened her was Charlie's reaction. He'd always been her rock. He worked through everything. When things got worst, Crews got better. Even his fierce anger had an edge to it. He was always driven, merciless and fearless; nothing stood in his way. The possibility of failure never occurred to her, but they were no further ahead now than 18 hours prior when she'd walked through the front door and found her pale partner holding that note. Crews had an uncanny ability to be at his best and most calm when chaos reigned, but not on this day.

Time had allowed him to examine what had happened in sharp detail. Charlie Crews was beside himself; he'd been fooled (again). Rayborn let him have Sarah just to demonstrate what he could take away – from both of them. Charlie failed. When he'd meant to rescue Sarah and help Dani reconnect with her. Instead he'd put them both in even greater danger. Once again everything he loved was being ripped away from him.

In his head he was replaying his mistakes, the ones that had led them both to this moment. He remembered choosing Rosa. She was warm, grandmotherly, with a gentle laugh and a nice smile. He'd liked her instantly, but had still done a good job of checking her out - or so he thought. But all along Rosa had worked for Rayborn and when the time came, she used the trust and confidence built over her time with Sarah to walk the little girl right out their front door. He'd been stupid and careless, but not with himself, his money or his own life – instead with Dani's daughter and to him it was an unforgiveable sin. He was stricken with guilt and a sea of anger and loathing swam in his eyes. He couldn't move, he almost couldn't breathe. He'd let down the two people he cared most about. The lost look in Dani's eyes was one he'd never be able to forget. Even tired she was beautiful, but the haunted look and pain he'd seen before he now knew the source of and this time he'd contributed to her pain.

When Dani could breath again, she looked up to her rock, but he wasn't there. He was lost. She could see the emotions roiling behind his eyes. She knew him and how much he was used to being responsible. "It's not your fault," she whispered through her tears. At first it was quiet, almost to herself, but as the realization of the burden he bore dawned on her she found her voice and repeated her words. Her voice was stronger as she tried to draw him out. "Charlie, its not your fault."

He blinked as her words permeated. Even after failing her this badly, his partner still trusted in him. "Yes, it is," he said hoarsely, shaking his head, "I failed you…both of you. I didn't save her. I put her at even greater risk – just like you. Nevikov took you because of me. Rayborn took Sarah because of me."

"No," she fought him. "This is not you, this is Rayborn. I went to him and involved him in this. He knows about her because of me, because I trusted him. He took her for a reason," she argued. "Rayborn took her because he wants something. The note says he wants something from you. We have to find him – to find out what he wants."

"He's in the wind and we are worn out," he sighed resigned and exhausted. "I don't know what I was thinking bringing you here," he sighed. "I'll take you home," he offered.

"Charlie," she touched his arm. "I am home. My home is with you and…"

"Sarah," he finished. His voice broke when he said the little girl's name. She, of the dark curls and eyes, who thought of him as "daddy" and although he was new to the role, he was pretty sure that keeping her safe was what Daddy was supposed to do.

"We're exhausted," Dani stated the obvious. "He's not going to hurt her. He needs her," she drew him by the hand up the stairs of his house to their bedroom.

"Maybe we should call the police," he said dully as he let her lead him.

"Honey, we are the police," she advised wryly. Neither even registered the fact that she'd referred to him as "honey."

They undressed quietly and tumbled into bed. His arms found their familiar purchase on her frame and she pulled him against her. They just fit and after a very long day and even longer night, her tears finally came, silent and warm against his chest. They soaked his shirt reminding him of all the times he'd been stabbed in prison and his own warm blood flowed over his body. Never had any stabbing hurt him as badly as this pain did. His pain dulled as exhaustion led to sleep and sleep led to dreams. None of his dreams were good ones.


	3. Chapter 2

She was dreaming. She knew it. They were in bed, Charlie was warm at her back, one of his arms wrapped around her stomach and another slid under her neck, crooked at the elbow, stroking her hair idly. She wasn't sure if that part was dream or reality. Sarah was standing before her clutching a tattered blue rabbit Charlie bought her just days ago. When Sarah first showed her the toy, she'd been skeptical at its appearance, but Charlie assured her that the "distressed" look was intentional. Sarah only showed her the softness, softly flicking the ear of the rabbit under her nose as she drifted off to sleep under the blue glow of the TV. Her daughter tugged at her hand and sniffed like she'd been crying. The little girl's lips moved, but Dani couldn't make out what Sarah was saying. She strained listening harder watching her daughter's lips carefully and it was then that the words came to her… "Mommy, help." She woke with a start and was still held in Crews' embrace. Telling the dream from reality was difficult.

Charlie snored lightly at the back of her neck mumbling things in his sleep. The only intelligible word was "Sarah." Most women would be angry at the sound of a female name on their lover's lips; and she and Crews weren't lovers – not yet anyway. She wasn't even remotely worried Crews was unnaturally fixated on Sarah; she trusted him implicitly even with her most prized possessions: her trust, her heart and her daughter. Right now her heart was torn between anger and disappointment with him for meddling and placing them in this mess; and the compassion and love she felt at his connection to her and by extension to her daughter – to Sarah for whom he searched, apparently even in his sleep.

"Crews," she called to him, "Crews, wake up." He wouldn't rouse even when she shook him.

"Charlie," she insisted that he listen, in voice she usually reserved for work or scolding.

"What?" he croaked hoarsely, blinking those damnably blue eyes in the sunlight streaming through the windows.

"You were dreaming," she explained.

He sat up running a hand through his hair. It stuck out in all directions and he sighed and rubbed his face. "Sometimes I dream about prison," shame was present in his voice.

"You were calling for Sarah. Looking for her, even in your sleep," she advised.

"Hmmm…" was his mumbled monosyllabic reply. It seemed Crews' brain was still sleeping, but hers was not.

"What if we can't find him because he doesn't want us to find him?" she mused.

His quizzical look told her he didn't follow.

"I know the note said he wanted something from you, but what if us not finding him is what he wants? Looking and not finding? Not finding because he doesn't want to be found? Not finding because we keep looking and…."

"At risk of getting slapped," he interrupted as he finally found his voice. It was low and rough and his comment had an edge to it that sounded a tiny bit like anger, "that sounds like something I would say." He didn't like where this was headed. He'd slept longer than he meant to and right now he just wanted to be out there looking for Sarah again – for as long as it took – forever - if that's what it took.

Her smile didn't quite reach her eyes but she knew she was right. It was instinct but it was the right one. She also knew he was going to resist what she was about to suggest. She held his eyes and finished her thought, "I think he knows we'll find him, but by keeping us looking, he's tiring us out, giving him an advantage. By the time we get there... we'll be so anxious and so frantic that we'd agree to anything. We need to rethink this. Maybe the best thing to do is to stop looking."

Crews was uncharacteristically mute as he mulled her thought pattern and let it permeate his dulled brain. He didn't want to do nothing, he wanted to do something, he needed to do something; but she had a point and a very good one.

"Charlie he managed to wrest her away with Rosa, her toys, some of her books, he clothes. Hell, he even took her dog! She's been moved around so much; she probably thinks this is just another move. I can't believe…I don't think he intends to harm her. She's leverage. The question isn't where Sarah is."

"Then what is the question?" Crews stubbornly resisted.

"What does he want from you?" she pressed.

"What he's always wanted," he snapped. "To own me, to control me, to buy me, to press my buttons…and no, I don't know why. I don't know who I am to him, why me. I never knew," he growled.

"Let's find that out," she said softly. "Maybe then we get ahead of him. I don't know about you, but I sick of being one step behind."

"Okay," he grudgingly agreed. "Where do we start?"

"At the beginning," she led him where he did not want to go.

"Tell me why you hate your father Crews."


	4. Chapter 3

"Ugh…Dani," he delayed sighing, "let's not do this now." He was thinking _let's not do this - ever. _

"No," she barked. For some reason she picked that moment to be angry. She dug in her heels, determined not to bend, not on this subject and not on this day.

"Crews, you fucked with my life, poked around where you weren't invited, dredged stuff up that was none of your business and now you're going to answer my question, dammit!"

He twisted his head to look at her. His countenance was fierce, but she was unbending and he knew it. "Okay," he said softly. "I guess I owe you that much."

"You're damned right you do," she muttered.

"Uh….well, first off he wouldn't let my mother come see me in prison," he gave her a detail she already knew. Everyone knew that.

"And," he continued in a neutral tone with no eye contact, "she died while I was inside." Everyone knew that too. It was like he was talking to IAD.

"But that wasn't when you starting hating him," she posited cagily.

This talk had been a long time coming, but now that it was here, there was more to be lost than gained in their verbal sparing.

His look was piercing. "No," he agreed, "it wasn't."

A contest of wills occurred in their stares.

"Tell me why you wanna know," he challenged.

"I hate my father too," she deflected. It wasn't an answer; it was a non-answer.

"Did he think you killed that family?" She switched up pursuing her original line of questioning. This was her interrogation and she wasn't about to let Crews turn this into a "_why Dani Reese was fucked up_" walk down memory lane. She was going to learn what laid behind the Zen façade – today.

He looked hard at her again, but answered anyway. "I honestly don't know. I don't know if he thinks I did, but what I do know is... my mother didn't. She never believed me capable of that. She knew I couldn't have and whether he kept her away to protect her or to protect himself – to guard against how it would look - I believe it's what killed her." The pain in his voice seeped through his words like blood through a bandage.

"Rumor is she died of cancer while you were inside," she offered.

"Yeah," he bit back his anger, "but that's not true. Pills and booze are what killed her. I think you know what a dangerous combination that can be," his barb was personal and mean spirited.

"So was it…accidental," she asked now genuinely curious without regard to his pain. It was a kind of morbid curiosity that she loathed, but could not resist.

"I don't know that either," his eyes narrowed. "How much more?" he tried to change the course of their conversation.

"How much more what?"

"How much more do you want?"

"All of it," she told him plainly.

For a long moment he just stared at her. It was as if he couldn't decide if she was punishing him, toying with him, or really wanted to know. The truth was this area of his life was shuttered and he wasn't sure if he even knew himself. But in the end, he gave it to her – because he'd give her anything. If she'd asked him to open his chest and hand her his heart, he'd have done it.

"My father," he began shakily, "is a pretty self absorbed asshole." That part he was sure of.

"Join the club," she commented in snarky agreement.

"If I'm going to bare my soul to you, the least you can do is be quiet and not interrupt," he chastised. She nodded and he continued. "He's a bully. He's a fake and he's very concerned not about what something is, but what it looks like."

"You weren't the kind of son he wanted," she fished.

"I was exactly the kind of son he wanted," he said darkly, smiling and his smile wasn't warm. It was mildly scary when he smiled like that. "I was good at stuff, school, sports, had lots of friends. Jennifer was very acceptable to my parents. They were pleased with our marriage."

"But…" she knew it had to go wrong. It always does.

"But," he teased, "he did not want his son becoming a police officer."

"Oh," Dani said surprised. "That's not such a bad choice."

"Yes," Charlie hissed, "but it wasn't his choice. Most, no…all of my life, my father chose for all of us. It was what he wanted, when he wanted, how he wanted and no one said no to my father."

"You did," she supplied the breaking point that she knew had come.

"I did," he confirmed. "It was loud, it was ugly, it was shouting and screaming and more than a little threatening and I left. Jennifer and I moved into a tiny apartment, I went to the academy and my father and I didn't talk for years. The next time I saw him I was sitting in county lockup getting ready to be arraigned for a triple homicide. My mother had insisted he post bail."

"Did he?" She didn't remember Crews ever being released on bail. It wasn't in anything she'd read on the case.

"No," he laughed. "He smiled and turned and walked away."

"Jesus," she exhaled.

"Yes, I believe even Jack Reese would have bailed his daughter out of county."

She bit her lip and nodded.

Charlie waited for her and then it came – the reciprocal disclosure. Any interrogation is an exchange of information – you give some, you get some. Now it was her turn to give. "He came and got me at the hospital when David died. He took me to rehab. He brought my mother to see me every week, but he never came in. He was ashamed of what I'd done, what I'd become."

"But he never gave up on you," Crews offered gently.

Dani nodded and met his eyes. Matters that words could not accurate convey passed between them, between deep brown and dazzling blue.

"But your father ? He came back…why?"

Charlie laughed, but it was a mean dark contorted shadow of a laugh. "Fifty million little green reasons, I suppose. Yet another in the long string of things I just don't know. All I know is that HE decided I needed to come to his marriage to a woman half his age, a woman he'd chosen to replace my dead mother – a woman I believe he killed. I think he sucked her soul dry and when she could no longer take it, take him, she left."

"You think she killed herself," Dani stated succinctly what he was only hinting at.

Again his long stare preceded his answer, but he ultimately answered her by simply repeating her words, "I think she killed herself. I think she wanted to be free of him and maybe that was the only way she could." He fell silent. It was a tough thing to share, but an emotion Dani knew well – doubt, fear, self-loathing.

Moments passed; time stretched and the air felt thin and dry. "Thank you for trusting me and for telling me the truth," she sort of apologized in her own way.

"Like you gave me a choice," his snide comment under his breath was audible and he meant for her to hear it. He didn't like to be forced into things, but it angered her nonetheless.

"Maybe now…. you know a little bit of what I felt the day I walked in here and you had Sarah," she said in a hoarse whisper. "Doesn't feel very good does it?"

His head bobbed, nodding several times, then he shook it. Words would not come.

"I love you, Crews," she admitted quite suddenly. Her expression of affection surprised both of them. His head snapped up and his eyes cleared as she finished her comment, "but that doesn't mean I'm gonna like all the things you do."

"That's fair," his lips were tight, but they hinted at a smile. His eyes sparkled in the bright sun. "That's good."

This storm had passed. The sun would shine again - in time.


	5. Chapter 4

They agreed to stop looking – as Dani had suggested – but Charlie had to turn it into Zen. "Looking is not always the way to find," he said reverently repeating a Zen saying.

Dani rolled her eyes and went in search of coffee, "whatever… Kung Fu."

Charlie showered and for the first time in 96 hours felt a small measure of himself. Dani was sitting at the island drinking coffee, dressed in just his baby blue dress shirt when he came into the kitchen. His reaction to her shapely legs sticking out of his oversized shirt was stronger than it should have been given the graveness of their situation. He tried to school his features, but she caught him licking his lips and adjusting himself in certain spots, before her eyes returned to her cup. A crimson blush crept up her neck and throat and he was surprised to find her shy about turning him on. Charlie assumed that Dani knew she turned men on – all men, him included.

They were interrupted from further introspection by a knock at the door. Charlie turned to answer it and Dani found herself flashing back to the day he was shot. She yelped, "Crews," as he reached for the handle.

His eyes met hers, brows raised in question.

"See who it is first," she urged. "A lot of people still want you dead."

A twist of his lips almost hid a smile, at her concern. Then he ducked down, saw the visitor and twisted the knob. "Morning Captain," he greeted Tidwell, "what can I do for you?"

"I'm here with bad news Crews," Tidwell sounded …uncomfortable. Dani leaned forward and slid off her chair. Her heart was pounding. _Could it be Sarah_ she wondered.

Crews said nothing. For once, fear stunned him silent. Just as Dani, his mind immediately leapt to the missing girl.

"It's your ex-wife," Tidwell gutted out the notification. "Someone killed her last night. I'm sorry, but I thought you should…." He trailed off as he noticed Dani and her state of dress. "What are you doing here?" he wondered aloud, then he rethought his question. "You know what…on second thought, never mind, not my business," the caustic sting in his voice was apparent to everyone.

"Thank you for coming," Charlie croaked. He was still stunned and trying to recover from the relief he felt knowing Sarah was safe, which came with a healthy serving of guilt knowing that Jennifer wasn't.

A long silent period passed. Tidwell made no move to leave, Dani stood her ground and Charlie just felt the earth beneath him tilt and swim.

"How did she die?" he asked finally finding his voice.

"What?" Tidwell was caught off guard as he was engaged in a staring contest with his ex-lover who know apparently had moved on – to her partner it would seem.

"You said someone killed her," Crews said dully. "How?"

"With a knife," Tidwell disclosed. "Someone who is very good with a knife cut her up. It was messy and she went in a lot of pain." The last part was unnecessary, but Tidwell was reeling from the betrayal. His normal empathy and concern were cancelled out by his warring loathing of and affection for Dani; he paid no particular attention to how what he said came out.

Crews clutched at the doorknob and his knuckles were white and eyes wild.

"Did you have to tell him that?" Dani snapped.

Tidwell looked at Crews, for whom he really did feel sorry and then at Dani, for whom he felt nothing but anger at the moment. He breathed in and out a couple times and then coolly stated, "The Department has counselors…"

"Get the fuck out," Dani shouted and then when he didn't move fast enough she shied her coffee cup at him. "Go, dammit."

The sound of the cup smashing against the marble floor snapped Crews out of his shock. "I think you should leave," he said to the Captain. "She's not likely to get more reasonable," he told Tidwell what he already knew.

"Stay here," he told Dani and held her eyes.

Outside he caught the other man by the sleeve and Tidwell turned.

"I know you came here because you felt like you should tell me in person and I appreciate you coming all this way to tell me. I know you didn't expect to find this; and this isn't what it looks like," he paused and gave the man the truth he deserved, "but it isn't innocent either."

"Shit, Crews," Tidwell pulled his coat away, "I've known you loved her since the day I met you two." A moment passed and he added, "but I am sorry about your ex. It's as if it was very personal or a message to someone."

"You think that someone is me," Crews surmised.

"Yeah," Tidwell huffed, "well, obviously you've moved on, but…"

"I get it," Crews said quietly. "Will you tell me if you develop a suspect?"

"As long as it's not you dude," Tidwell laughed. Charlie did not.


	6. Chapter 5

When Charlie came back into the house, Dani was, curiously enough, doing something he'd never imagined. She was making breakfast. It was mundane, domestic and actually the perfect thing – exactly what he needed. In a world gone mad, it was routine and normal. Not normal for Dani, not normal for Dani and him, but somehow it worked. He pulled a chair at his island, as she cooked bacon in a skillet on the range and cracked eggs into a bowl. She noticed him, reaching into the fridge, she poured a tall glass of orange juice and set it and a piping hot cup of coffee before him. Her expression was neutral and she said nothing. She didn't press him for answers or question why he'd done what he'd done. She simply went on about her task, dressed in only his dress shirt. He watched her tanned bare feet dance an intricate pattern on his tile floor and became lost for a moment.

He snapped out of his disconnectedness as she placed a plate in front of him. It was simple, but lovely scrambled eggs and bacon. She couldn't have known that his mother used to do the same thing when he was a boy. She'd quietly work in the kitchen as a young Charlie sat watching mutely. He was slow to wake as a child, but his mother never forced him. She respected him and let him come to her – in that way Dani was much like her.

Dani refreshed her coffee and leaned back against the countertop sipping and watching him. "Eat," she coached. He smiled slightly and then put his head down and did just that. He ate and the warmth of the food permeated. He wiped his mouth and looked up at his partner. "Good?" she asked. He nodded and she took his plate.

He cleared his throat and questioned her, "aren't you going to ask me about…"

"No," she shook her head as she cleared the dishes and began to run water to wash them. "I think we've inflicted enough damage on each other today," she began washing dishes as the running water gobbled up the silence.

He watched her perform what was something akin to a Zen ritual. He noticed how her hands moved with purpose and direction, washing each plate, cup, bowl and spoon thoroughly before rinsing them with the same precision and smooth hand motions. She gently placed them in logical sequence and position on a waiting dishtowel to dry, before turning off the water and wiping her hands and turning to face him.

"Jennifer was killed that way to send me a message," he stated succinctly. He was no longer angry or wild. His comment was controlled and clearly articulated and then he explained. "The Seybolts were cut up like that. It's no coincidence. It's a message, a warning."

She sipped her coffee before replying, "Rayborn?"

"No," he answered. "I don't think so."

"Then who?"

He breathed out before he answered. He look skyward over her shoulder and then his eyes returned to her. This would be hard to say and even more difficult for her to hear and accept. "I think this message is from your father, Dani."

She paled, but otherwise showed no reaction. He could see from her eyes the shock, then denial, then grudging acceptance and questions forming in her sharp little brain. "Roman said he was dead," she stated her objection.

"His body has never been found. Roman Nevikov wouldn't have killed him and not let the world know. For an act like that to have an effect, it has to be made public. People have to see. No one has seen, no one knows, not even his family."

"So you think my father is still alive? And that he did this?"

"I think he's alive and he's caused it to be done. I don't think he'd do it himself."

She sipped her coffee again, but her eyes stayed on him. He could see her thinking before she spoke. "You think my father is a coward AND a bigger monster than Rayborn?" There was mild disgust in her tone, but no judgment in her face, just curiosity.

"I think it's a helluva a thing to kill a man and I speak from experience," he chose his words carefully. He trod cautiously. They were both tired, raw from emotion and under tremendous stress – a fracture between them now could prove fatal. The fatality would be their budding relationship. He noticed that while they'd both professed their "love"; he'd never even kissed her. He really wanted to get to that stage, but not enough to lie to her. Lying to Dani was an unforgivable sin; too many people had lied to her too many times. He continued very delicately, "and I think if your father knew how I feel about you, he'd cross that line, willingly, gleefully."

Her eyes narrowed and he tried to assess if what he'd said was received the way he intended it. Then she spoke, " you think my father loves me that much? You give him too much credit," the bitterness in her voice was because she didn't think she deserved that level of devotion.

It was then he made his choice and he made it with his whole heart. He closed the distance between them and encircled her in his arms. He lowered his head until his lips rested near her ear, "you are worth so much more than anyone understands." He felt the slight imperceptible shake of her head denying what he'd said.

"You are and I will keep telling you until you believe it." He felt the fight leave her and her arms clutch at his biceps. He thought for a moment she intended to push him away, but she just retreated a few inches until she could look him in the face.

"You are the only person crazy enough to believe that, Crews," she smiled and the smile reached her eyes. "I'm sorry….about her…about your wife," she tried to meet him halfway.

"Ex-wife," he corrected gently. "She remarried. An investment banker named Mark. She moved on and now, so have I," he wanted her to know that he was committed – to her and only to her.


	7. Chapter 6

There was no good way to have this conversation, but the one sin Dani Reese never practiced was cowardice – _at least not when it came to looking at the skeletons in other people's closets. _"Are we…are you…going to her service?" There was no question who she was talking about.

Previous attempts by Charlie to explore helping with the service had ended badly. To say they ended badly may have been understatement, as she had personally witnessed Mark hang up on him, but only after shouting, "stay the hell away from my family." This was preceded by several choice expletives clearly audible over the phone line in the silence of Crews' empty house as Mark cursed her partner out.

Crews glanced up from his seated position to turn his pale blue eyes at her. "I don't think I'm welcome there," Crews said solemnly, sticking to the characterization most resembling profound understatement of the issue. Hooded under his blonde lashes, his eyes seemed like sea and his lashes, sand reminding her of the beach – even with his professed sun allergy. She remembered thinking the same thing before sleep claimed her on their trip to Mexico all those weeks ago, back when everything was crystal clear like the blue water of the sea and the irises of his eyes. She wondered where that clarity had gone or if it had even been there at all.

"I don't think it matters. Funerals are to grieve; they aren't for the dead – they are for the living," her pronouncement was matter of fact. If he wanted to go, he should. For far too long, he was not free to do as he chose and the fact that people still tried to cage or restrict him chaffed her. She couldn't explain it; it just did.

"I'm gonna take a shower," he said softly as he rose. He kissed her on the cheek as he slipped past her ending their discussion of what would happen. He'd simply neatly sidestepped it without giving her any definitive answer.

She couldn't let it go, but she also couldn't keep the dour tone out of her voice, "I'll go with you," she offered. Dani hated funerals; that she would endure one for him spoke volumes.

He froze and turned. He'd risen from seated meditation and was still sweaty. Beads of it littered his brow like morning dew on the grass. Rivulets of sweat glistened down his temple and soaked his bright hair in spots so fully they appeared auburn.

"I love you, you know," he said holding her eyes, "but you don't have to do that."

She walked to stand close to him. She could smell him and nearly taste the salt in his sweat. "Crews until we get my daughter back; neither of us go anywhere alone."

It wasn't what he hoped for in return for his profession of love, but Dani liked to nurse her wounds. She still couldn't decide whether to be angry at him or not; so she picked whatever mood suited her at the moment. She'd just gone from loving and supportive to caustic and untrusting in milliseconds. But she'd never abandon him and that was something.

* * *

Crews sat in the back, the very last pew of the tasteful Lutheran church where Mark was having Jennifer's service. Thankfully, Mark never saw him. The church was packed with most of the upwardly mobile bankers and politicians that Jennifer and Mark counted as friends and business acquaintances. No one asked about him or the young woman in dark glasses and tasteful navy blue pantsuit who took the seat beside him.

Charlie couldn't bring himself to wear black to Jennifer's funeral. It was too dark and never a good color on him. She wouldn't have liked it. Instead he opted for a rich brown with a sage green shirt under and tasteful tie; nothing that drew attention to himself. He was just another mourner; except that he wasn't.

As the crowd knelt he followed suit, but when they bowed their head in prayer, he did not. God had never answered his prayers, before or after prison. All he'd asked for before that fateful night was children, but they were unlucky there. In the front row next to Mark were two preteen children, one sandy blonde boy and a dark haired younger sister. They clutched their father's hands and cried quietly. In prison he prayed a lot at first, then later he realized he was wasting his time and showing a weakness – he stopped praying, long before he stopped believing. If God had answered his prayers, his children would have grown up without knowing him for twelve long years. They would be as foreign to him as the two kids in the front row.

Beside him, Dani cast a sideways glance and noticed her partner's head was unbowed and his eyes were focused straight ahead. He did not recite the solemn words in the low shy tone of the congregation. Even here he seemed alone; solitary by design or by choice. She reached into his lap where his hands were folded and drew one out placing the pale lean hand between her two small tanned ones.

He immediately looked down and then into her face. The pain he felt, the loss he felt from that first day until now shown in his eyes; he didn't even try to hide it. After a moment, he tried to pull away, but she held fast to his hand and he accepted her. He wove his fingers into hers and flexed his palm against hers. She smiled slightly and he lifted their conjoined hands to his lips and pressed a soft kiss to the back of her hand. Her head bowed and after a moment he joined her.

In the balcony of the church, where the choir normal sat a man watched the exchange; he was not pleased. The choices the man made did not concern him; the choices the woman made concerned him greatly.


	8. Chapter 7

The service ended and the mourner's rose to leave. The first few rows followed the casket out and as per tradition each successive row would follow suit until the church was empty. That was when they saw them – Rayborn and Sarah.

Mickey Rayborn was dressed in a tasteful grey wool suit far too hot for LA. He was sacrificing comfort for style and he'd been visible to them, as expected, for most of the service. They'd discussed the possibility Rayborn would be in attendance and the dual purpose of mourning and following their only logical lead; but as Rayborn made to leave suddenly he bent down and lifted Sarah into his arms. He balanced her on his hip, then thought better of it and set her down grasping her hand and drawing her along with him as the procession filed out.

Charlie saw her first, by benefit of his height, but they both saw the little girl clearly. Dani's hand became an iron grip on his. It was never really clear if the focus of her tight grip was to anchor him in the moment or to prevent her from doing something rash. Crews growl was low and feral, only audible to her, but it served to snap her out of her interest. She tugged on their link and watched as Crews schooled his features lest the mourners detect a problem. Dani was less able to contain her shock, but she stood nailed to the spot as one by one the procession of mourners politely filed past.

It was a somber quiet atmosphere and Sarah was a quiet, respectful child, but when she saw Crews who was on the aisle her eyes went wide. She smiled and waived. "Hi Daddy," she whispered conspiratorially as if they were playing hide and seek in plain sight. Crews smile was more like a grimace as he leaned back to let Dani glimpse her daughter.

That act had an unintended consequence on both ends.

Sarah cried out an excited, "Mommy," straining against Rayborn's grasp. While Charlie was a novelty or amusement and Uncle Mickey was no threat to the girl, the presence of her mother was an entirely different matter. Simultaneously, Dani pushed past Charlie as if he was a stalk of grass. She was intent on reclaiming her missing child and moved with a singular purpose. They were drawn together like magnets.

A look passed between Rayborn and Crews and each, by unspoken assent, held the end of their respective magnetic bond from reaching the other. Both mother and daughter wore the same dark look at their captors. Dani swore under her breath as Crews gripped her shoulders and fixed her to the spot. He leaned low and counseled against making a scene. Sarah whined and wriggled against Rayborn as he picked her up and moved away. Not standing on formality, Dani stepped into the aisle and followed closely behind Rayborn with Crews at her heel.

From the balcony, two men watched in rapt attention as it became clear the "mommy" in question was none other than Dani Reese.

Both men were shocked for different reasons.

Jack Reese sat back in stunned silence. _His daughter had a daughter? When? And more importantly…with whom?_ Surely not Crews, although it was clear the two were now closer than he'd ever imagined. _And why did Rayborn have his granddaughter? To what end? _

Kevin Tidwell watched the crowd of mourners for clues, as a good policeman should. Statistically, it was more like than not that Jennifer Connover's killer was hidden amongst that crowd. But he was particularly interested in the activities and reactions of the primary (and only) suspect LAPD had – the currently suspended LAPD Detective and former ex-con Charlie Crews. Superiors had made it crystal clear to him was so far as LAPD was concerned Crews did this.

Tidwell wasn't sure. It didn't feel like Crews. _If it was him, why now?_ _Why in this way?_ But truthfully he was seriously conflicted about his task. He wasn't sure if he wanted to clear Crews or convict him. He knew that much of his feeling toward the tall, pale detective was tangled up in the strange, but unmistakable link Crews had with Dani Reese. Tidwell missed his little brunette lover and Crews somehow figured into why they were no longer a couple. _Now this?_

Crews had claimed the child was his, but she just called Dani her mother. He'd have to check the math, but he was pretty sure that wasn't possible. _So who the heck did this kid belong to?_ _ And what did it have to do with the butchery that took Jennifer Connover's life? Why did Dani and Crews both lie to him? So just what the hell was going on?_

Outside Rayborn leapt into a waiting limo and sped away.

Dani Reese was beyond furious as she wheeled on her partner slapping him hard enough it was audible to bystanders getting into their own cars or just milling around the general area. Her words were inaudible, but for his ears and they turned red as his hair. She was giving him the tongue lashing of a lifetime. The tall, pale man stood stock still as the young woman paced and fumed. More than once it seem she would strike him again, but he made no move to defend himself. After a period of time, she stalked off toward a dark, sleek, foreign car and he followed at an interval. He unlocked the doors remote before she reached the car and slipped inside.

Jack Reese observed from the window of the church with a set of binoculars, while Kevin Tidwell watched from a respectful distance on the ground. Tidwell lounged against a tree in the garden, as it was obvious a heated exchange was taking place. She did not try to slap him again, nor did he attempt to console her. Both sulked stating their point of view and withdrawing to lick their respective wounds.

"I could have taken her back right then," she argued.

"You said yourself he won't hurt her," he countered. "Making a scene was going to divulge far more than either of us are ready to deal with."

"More than my daughter begging for her mommy and daddy in a church full of people? I don't see how that's possible. This would be over by now if you hadn't stopped me," she snapped bitterly.

"Until the next time," he batted back. "We have to end this. For both of you to be safe, we have to end this on his terms: know what price he wants and if we are willing to pay it and then it will be over and you'll both be safe."

She really couldn't argue with his logic, but she didn't have to agree. She'd made her point; he made his and both sat in mute objection out of habit. He reached for her shoulder and she pulled away. He started the car and drove off.

* * *

Jack Reese pulled a cell phone from his pocket and dialed his contact within the department. "Tell me you saw that," he asked.

"Yes, I saw that," Tidwell replied tersely. "Everyone saw that. Just what the hell does it mean?"

"How the fuck am I supposed to know? You're the Detective. Go detect," the older Reese demanded and snapped the phone closed ending the call.

Tidwell's phone rang again and this time it was Rayborn.

"Detective," he purred, "tell me how you allowed Crews and his partner to be in that church and not warn me."

"Look," Tidwell explained quickly, "Tidwell is juggling a lot of stuff here. I gotta investigate a homicide, keep you informed and try not to end up losing my day job. Sometime these things are going to intersect and tough choices have to be made. Today was one of those days. If Tidwell warns you, then he loses seeing how Crews reacts. Now you tell me something," he demanded. "Why the hell do you have Crews' kid? Is that even Crews' kid? Why did she call Reese "mommy"? Reese doesn't even like kids, doesn't want kids, doesn't have kids…so what the hell?"

Rayborn was silent for a moment, but there was annoyance in his voice when he answered. "Has anyone ever told you how annoying your habit of referring to your self in the third person is Detective?"

"Captain…" Tidwell corrected.

"Not if your superiors find out how much I pay you and for what….Detective," Rayborn pointedly threatened. "Now... what Crews and Reese are doing is not your concern and this little girl is not your concern. You just need to see that Crews remains out of prison, but off the force. Leave the rest to me," he directed in a tone that brooked no argument.

"What about…." Tidwell began seeking answers of his own.

The wealthy man's voice was smooth, but his message was not, "I don't pay you to ask questions. I pay you to provide me with information and this time you have failed. Do I need to remind you of the consequences of repeated failures?"

"Uh…no," a more contrite and far less cocky response seemed in order. After all the man was paying him handsomely for information that no one seemed very concerned about and he hadn't had to cross any ethical lines...yet.

"Do you…or more accurately…does the LAPD have any evidence linking Crews to his ex-wife's murder?"

"No," the terse reply was accurate, but gave nothing beyond what was asked.

"Does LAPD consider him a suspect?"

"He is LAPD's only suspect," he told the truth.

"So…the likelihood of Crews being allowed to return to LAPD are…"

"Slim and none," Tidwell interrupted smugly.

"See that it remains that way. If any evidence should surface, from any source, known or unknown, real or trumped up – you will contact me immediately for instructions," Rayborn directed.

"I can't hear your head rattle Detective," Rayborn said darkly.

"Uh, yeah – yes. Yes, sir," Tidwell stammered.

"And Detective, one more thing…" Rayborn delivered his parting shot, "don't think for a moment I don't know about your side betting. Rayborn smiled and you could hear the syrup in his voice as he slid the dagger deep. "It's good to be entrepreneurial, but you are in bed with far too many mistresses to keep happy. One of them is bound to shoot you eventually. Trust me I know about these things." He ended the call before Tidwell could inhale in shock.

So Rayborn knew he was on Jack Reese's payroll too. "Shit," he swore softly. "Tidwell needs an exit strategy before he ends up with no friends, just enemies." A quizzical look crossed his face at his expression. He wondered for a moment if it really was annoying to refer to himself in the third person. _Naw, it's part of my charm_ he thought.


	9. Chapter 8

Dani was pissed and looking for a reason to run. Her opening salvo was strong, but Charlie knew her long game was weak. She was frightened, more than she'd care to admit, but when backed into a corner even a mouse will bite. Dani Reese was no mouse.

"Do you still love her?"

"She's dead," he posited a strong counter.

"Answer the damned question," she demanded.

"I think part of me will always love her," he admitted something they both knew.

"She was my first love and she broke my heart, but part of me will always love her."

"Did you hook up with her after prison?"

He winced. That was a question he really didn't want to answer, but he had to. "Yes, we were together a couple times after I got out, but she loved her husband and our time was past. And…." he warned, "I don't like that characterization. We did not hook up."

"No," she bit back snidely, "that's something only someone like me does right?"

"No," he kept his tone neutral though his frustration was rising. "I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to," she turned to stalk away.

He caught her by the elbow and despite her attempt to shake him loose he held on.

"That night in Mexico, when you asked for him…don't you think that hurt? Don't you think it made me wonder if I was just chasing a ghost or a vision?"

She stilled and listened.

"Part of you will always love him, but he's gone. I'm here and that scares you," he foretold. "I know... because it scares me. That you could be taken from me just like Jennifer was." Now he had her attention and her eyes.

"You mean when she divorced you or when she was murdered?"

"Both," he answered honestly. "Both were a kind of death, a sort of loss….That's not something you recover from quickly, but I was…I am…in love with you AND I always will be."

She nodded her grudging acceptance and he continued. "I know you're mad at me. Hell, I'm beginning to think you'll always be a little bit mad at me – every day for the rest of our lives, but that's worth it to me just to be here with you."

"You drive me fucking crazy Crews," she grumbled and he sensed their argument was at an end. "I think sometimes you do it on purpose. I swear to God there are days that I want to strangle you."

He nodded his acceptance of her anger: an acknowledgement, not surrender. They would anger each other, disappoint and even surprise one another, but never abandon each other.

"But there are other days aren't there?" he teased gently. She shook her head no, but a slight smile flitted across her face and then it was gone. He nudged her chin higher with his knuckle. He led her where they both wanted to go. "Days when you can imagine us together?"

Again her head shook no, but she wet her lips as he stepped closer and his shadow covered her. "Days when you can think about me kissing you…touching you…" he never got to finish his taunt as she reached up to him and her lips touched his.

"I fucking hate you on those days, Crews," she said breathlessly as he framed her face and at long last kissed her. Their kiss was both strong and fragile; it was heated and yet constrained. It spoke of potential and the future, but it cemented their bond and erased any illusion they weren't together for the long journey ahead.

* * *

_Author's Note: Okay, I'm gonna shameless beg for some feedback on account of there's not much of a reaction to this story. I'll be wrapping it up shortly, by the end of the summer. It's quite a departure from canon so it might make some readers uncomfortable, but without S3 we were stuck. LMK what you think about where this journey is taking our dynamic duo. _


	10. Chapter 9

Two days after Jennifer's funeral, her phone rang, _unknown caller_ it read. She answered it knowing the timing was no coincidence. Crews was running; his personal form of atonement like unto a punishment traversing the backbreaking, dusty switchbacks in the canyons behind his home. The beating his body took now; a substitute for the sort it used to. He wouldn't be home for awhile and the person on the other end of the phone knew it.

"Dani," Rayborn's slick oily voice slithered down the phone line. It was proud, arrogant and repulsive. She couldn't recall why she'd ever trust this man with something so important as a secret - much less Sarah.

"We know you have her," she snapped uneasily.

He chuckled. "Yes, well the note told you that, before our little social interaction." He let his little victory hang in the air a moment and then gave her the reassurance that was not reassuring. "And as you saw, she's unharmed….in case you were wondering."

"I think you know what I'd do to you if you hurt her," she threatened.

Empty air greeted her, but she could imagine him smirking. In his mind she was still a headstrong teenage girl of fourteen in a pink swimsuit at a pool party and family barbeque. Her family used to include him and forty other LAPD sworn officer, now it was just Crews and Sarah. She was determined to say something to make him understand circumstance had changed. Instead of a garden hose, now she held a straight razor. "And if that doesn't trouble you, I think you've seen what Crews can do when people he cares about are threatened."

That got his attention and he was quick to correct her, "not, threatened, sweetheart – protected. I'm protecting Sarah, like you asked me to."

"Don't call me sweetheart," she growled.

"No?" He laughed. "Only Crews can call you that I suppose," he fished.

"My relationship with my partner is none of your business," she defended and changed the topic in one breath. "Where's my daughter?"

"Your daughter?" Rayborn toyed. "I thought she was Crews' daughter, Dani."

Her mind raced. Only one person knew that little nugget of misinformation – Tidwell. _How were Tidwell and Rayborn connected?_ She knew now that they had to be. It was just as Charlie always said _everything is connected. _

She batted back her own barb lest her introspection be interpreted as weakness. "So you own my captain, so what?"

"Own? People don't own people, Dani. That's barbaric and illegal," he continued to alternate between being overly amused by her discomfort and making an honest effort at truly hurting her. "And wasn't he your boyfriend? Until well….lately…It seems your tastes have changed. Tsk, tsk, your father would be so disappointed in your choices."

"I don't give a rat's ass what he would have thought or what you think," she gritted out the words trying to keep from shouting. "Now where's my kid?"

"Why she's right here with me," he said coyly. "Would you like to talk to her?"

She could hear the phone being passed, rustling noise, splashing and then Sarah's excited voice on the other.

"Hello?" her tiny mouth formed the question and Dani bit back tears of relief.

"Sarah, it's…" she began.

"Mommy, " Sarah excitedly exclaimed. "Mommy I've been swimming with Uncle Mickey and we had cheese tacos and then….Oh, and Mommy, the puppy ate some of Rosa's shoes and then we slept on a boat and it rocked and I saw seals. Where are you and Daddy? When are you coming to get me?" She stopped finally when her small lungs ran out of breath.

Dani calmed herself and concentrated on the fact that she sounded happy, whole and unharmed, rather than the waterlogged sound of her voice. She flashed to a recent lecture she'd given Crews about letting Sarah stay in the pool until her lips turned blue. God she'd give anything to be chastising her tall red haired partner while he stood holding her daughter curled against his chest both looking equally repentant. The image her mind summoned was as real as a mirage, it evaporated into the nightmarish reality of her current situation.

"Baby, are you okay? We are coming to get you real soon. I miss you."

"I miss you too mommy. When are you coming to get me?" Sarah wondered again.

It was killing Dani to not know the answer to that question. She changed the subject again. "Is Rosa taking good care of you?" She waited for the girl's quiet "yes" and then followed up with another hard question. "Is anyone hurting you?"

She heard rustling and then Mickey answered for her, "she says no. Dani I'm disappointed in you. You asked me to protect her and I'm doing that. Charlie Crews is a dangerous man."

"He'd never hurt her," she snapped.

"He'd never hurt either of you himself, but I think you are beginning to realize that traveling in the orbit of Charlie Crews' sun…one can get burned," Rayborn taunted.

She bit her tongue, as the retort on the tip of it was not for Rayborn's ears. She felt the desire to defend him, both as her partner and as whatever it was they were becoming. She hadn't yet come to grips with the depth of her feelings for Crews. She knew that she loved him, but what sort of love that would be - was not yet clear to her. She knew that he loved her and Sarah both and that love could be used to make him reckless. It confused and troubled her – but that was Rayborn's intent, to shake her confidence, to separate them, to drive a wedge between them.

He was making his point soundly. "I need to know something before I give her back to you," he used her pause tactically. "I need to know that you are committed."

"To what?" she questioned hoarse from emotion.

"To whom is the proper question?"

"To whom?" she recited sounding every bit the little schoolgirl he remembered.

"To yourself, to your daughter, to your partner…dare I say lover?" he teased. "You are what binds them together, what tethers him to reality and what enables him to be not what he was before, but who he can be."

"Who can he be?"

"Who ever he wants; whomever he chooses," Mickey replied and the unintentionally Zen nature of his answer made her want to bite her own teeth.

"I want my daughter back," she pushed.

"Then come and get her Detective," Rayborne offered. She knew it was a ploy, a tactic. She knew that by calling when he did, he intended to separate her from Crews. She also knew this chance would not come again, so she chose with her heart and trusted Crews to follow her breadcrumbs and save them both should it come to that.

Simply asking the question let Rayborn know his arrow had struck its target. "Where?"

"La Brea Tar Pits, on the greens in Hancock Park, near a bench. We're having a picnic," he said gaily right before he ended the call. The caller id read simply "unknown caller." Experience let her know that even a call to friends in tech would prove unhelpful. Crews was out of contact; his cell and his gun sat on the island in the kitchen. She had to do something and she had to do it now.

She scribbled out a quick note, "Rayborne called. I'm going to get Sarah. La Brea Tar Pits in the park near a bench," she penned. Then almost without thinking again the words were there, this time in black and white. "I love you, Dani." She stared at the words she had written without conscious thought.

The implication was no longer vague. It felt strong, it felt right, it felt good. She considered for a brief moment if this was how it came to Crews – the fact that he loved her. She wondered if he was as surprised as she; at the way knowing it changed her world and everything in it. Then she grabbed his keys and made for the location Rayborne had described. Her daughter was there now, but for how long?


	11. Chapter 10

On the way there, in that fast little Italian car with the throaty sounding engine, her cell rang. She prayed it was him, but God was not kind to her on that day. It was Tidwell.

"Reese," she answered sounding as chipped and spent as she felt.

"Are you with him?" he asked. He didn't have to say who the _he_ was.

"No," she gave him a simple, honest reply.

"But you're with him now aren't you? I mean not _with him_ with him. He's not there at the moment, but you and him are….together now….aren't you?"

"We've always been together," she objected. "He's my partner."

"No," Tidwell snapped. He softened. "LAPD wants you back Dani. You, not him. I want you back," he laid himself out there. "What you told IAD after you two got back from that little detour to Mexico….that isn't all that happened is it? You didn't tell them or me everything – did you?"

"What's everything?" She countered angrily sounding far more Zen than she intended. "You mean like the fact you work for Rayborn?" she snapped. "You mean things like that? Like you sending me to the FBI knowing it was a set up and that all they'd ever asked me about was Crews…." She threatened him with the sum of her actual knowledge; things she'd held back when she gave her bland watered down version of events to IAD. _What she couldn't know was how little she actually knew._

"That little girl isn't Crews' daughter," he changed the subject. "She can't be. But she could be yours…" he fished hard.

Empty air greeted him.

"I was there - at Jennifer Connover's funeral. I heard her call you "mommy." Dani, is that little girl your daughter?"

"Yes," she finally stopped lying and just said it.

"Why does Rayborn have her?"

"It's complicated," she tried to not give anymore up than he already knew.

"Are you in trouble?" He sounded hurt and yet hopeful like the man she remembered before things went so horribly wrong.

"I'm better than I've even been, but there's still a long way to go," she didn't truly answer his question.

"Are you coming back to work?"

"Not now," she bit her lip. "Maybe not ever. I have to take care of some things, personal things, private things and when those things are settled I may come back."

"Personal things," he echoed sounding far away, "private things? But things Crews knows about right? Things you share with him, that you didn't – wouldn't share with me?"

She sighed and held the phone under her chin trying to form reply that made sense.

"Why did you send me to the FBI?" she decided with her brain not her heart.

"I thought it would be good for you," he lied.

"Not to get me away from Crews?" she countered.

"No," he yelped. "Did I need to get you away from Crews? I guess so huh? I mean you're obviously with him now," he just let his tongue ramble.

"The Lieutenant your replaced? Karen Davis she was a lifelong friend of my family. She said I was getting too close and then she was replaced….by you. You, who from the day you got here sought me out, pursued me…"

"So there's a law against liking a beautiful woman now?"

"Let me finish," she ordered. "You, who found a way around every rule in the book to date a subordinate and then you sent me somewhere – to the FBI – where all they asked me about was my father and Crews. You were the only one Crews told about Sarah. He let you believe she was his, but that information got back to someone didn't it? It got back to Rayborn. So tell me why I should trust anyone who's on Rayborn's payroll." She poured all of her suspicion and mistrust into a single stream of consciousness and let him have both barrels.

"I don't work for Rayborn, Dani." Tidwell defended. "Okay, I give him a little something once in awhile, but I don't work for him. I work for your father."

"You what?" she yelped. "You can't….he's dead. Roman Nevikov killed him."

"No," Tidwell told her the truth she didn't want to hear. "Nevikov lied to you. Your father is alive. I talked to him yesterday. He got me this job, paid me to protect you, to be close, to keep you out of this mess Crews is in. He didn't pay me to fall for you and he's pissed that you are now…. Well, you are with Crews aren't you?"

"Yes," she released the truth on wings that beat in time with her heart. "Yes, I am."

She was nearing the interstate exit that would take her to meet with Rayborn. She needed to steel herself for that battle, but she was reeling from what Tidwell disclosed and she really needed the strength and stability of her partner. "I have to go," she ended the call, "I have something I need to do."

"But you'll call me after?" Tidwell hoped. "We need to talk."

The phone line was silent as she considered the tasks that lie ahead of her.

"Dani," he said gently, "we need to talk."

"Okay," she relented. "I'll call you, but understand that you will tell me everything. You'll tell me or Crews will make you tell me," her threat was dark and serious. The line went dead.

"Shit," Tidwell said. "This keeps getting worse and worse. Sunny LA…my ass."

* * *

The house was eerily silent when he came through the front door dripping sweat and tired beyond description. It was always quiet, but this time it felt empty. "To be empty, is to be empty of something," the Zen saying went. It felt empty of her.

He glanced at the table by the door and then the driveway. He'd come in off the back porch and not noticed his missing car. He wandered to the kitchen and found her note. He felt joy and panic in the same breath.

She loved him and she'd gone alone.

Then under her name and those all-important words on her note; a time was scrawled - 1438 hrs. He glanced at his watch it was 1530 hrs. She'd be there by now. He grabbed his phone and pressed her name. The number displayed and it seemed eons before the line connected. When it did he sighed heavily, his voice was smooth and sure and full of relief, "God, I'm so glad you're there."

"Why thank you Detective, I wasn't certain you missed me at all," Rayborn's mocking reply made his heart drop.

"You have them both," Crews' voice held defeat.

"I have them both," Rayborne confirmed. "I warned you. One way or another, you will come to me, son."


	12. Chapter 11

They stood overlooking the green of the park on an elevated boardwalk where Charlie had gone to spot Reese. Rayborn found him before he could locate Dani, but now he could see her. Both his dark haired girls were in the shade of a big elm not far from where he stood with Rayborn bathed in the bright clear sun.

Rayborn sneered but his question was profound. "What do you want Detective Crews? What do you really want?"

Charlie gave him the truth, not because he deserved it, but because he could not contain it. "Them," he gestured at Dani and Sarah in the distance. They were close enough to see, but too far away to hear anything but the rich warmth of Dani's voice and the tiny peal of Sarah's laughter.

"Not your job?"

Charlie shook his head vigorously "no." Becoming a cop again had been what sustained him throughout a long period of darkness, but it was not real. It was not even close to what they were to him.

"Not your money? Your house? Your fast cars?"

Charlie snorted a short laugh and shook his head again. "No."

"And your Zen? Your detachment? Your aloofness and your personal vendetta against the world?"

"No," Charlie confirmed, "just them."

"You know what's important now," Rayborn confirmed.

"What if I offered to give you all the answers you've been looking for…"

"I just want my fam…" he stopped midsentence as Rayborn chuckled.

"Your family son? They aren't yours. You aren't theirs. You haven't let yourself love them – not really have you?"

"Haven't I?" Charlie wondered. His question was internal but spoken aloud.

"If you love someone you don't ask them to change. You let them give you what they are willing to and accept that it is all they may be capable of," Rayborn spoke ages old wisdom. It was a lesson he hadn't learned until it was too late; he hoped it wasn't too late for Crews.

Crews stared at his girls and then blinked and switched his eyes skyward to the sun.

"The answer isn't there," Rayborn advised. "Sunshine is the most dangerous thing you know. It blinds you. It makes you think everything is clean and pure and fine, but only in the dark can you really see. Dani has learned that. In many ways, she's far ahead of you on your path."

When Charlie looked back there were tears in his eyes. He pretended they were from the strong sunlight. "I have been holding back and I've been trying to change her. She's not Jennifer."

"That's right," Rayborn's words were just a whisper.

"How Jennifer was killed…" Charlie objected.

"I didn't do that," Rayborn reinforced strongly. Crews looked him dead in the eyes and sought his truth without words. "I didn't do that. What would I gain from doing that? Ask yourself who knew that crime scene and the details of those killings well enough to instruct someone to replicate them. Ask yourself who hasn't been seen, but isn't gone."

"Jack Reese," Charlie concluded something he already suspected.

"He does not, never has, wanted his daughter anywhere near you," Rayborn confirmed. "Now it would appear that she is…closer to you than anyone would have imagined or dared to think. He wants you to know that anyone can be taken from you at anytime."

"You really think he'd kill his own daughter? His own granddaughter?"

"I think hate can twist a man into a shadow of his former self. You see Charlie I came to grips with who and what I am, Jack never did. I think I would put nothing past my old friend...and he doesn't know about Sarah….who she really is."

"You never told him? Seems like you two are having your own secret war and we are all just pawns. You never used her to your advantage? Why?"

"Call it old age, yearning for simpler times. I just want someone to escape this prison we've built for ourselves. We made the city of Los Angeles into a battleground and we hide in it's neighborhoods and nightclubs, but it's still a prison."

"And now you want me to what….kill him?"

"Not for me, for them and because if you don't – he will kill you," Rayborn slid the dagger home. It was swift, silent and lethal. All this effort was to plant a tiny seed; one that would set Jack Reese and Charlie Crews on their collision course with death. One or both would die and Rayborn didn't care – either way it eliminated a problem and his hands were clean.

"And if I kill him, she's mine?"

"Oh, kiddo," Rayborn sighed sadly, "you can't own people. I know this better than most. Almost twenty years now, I've tried and I've failed. You are smarter than me.

"Learn that lesson and don't push her away by trying to hold her close."

"What if killing her father pushes her away from me?"

"A possibility, but if he kills you, then what? You have a chance here. I'm not asking you to do anything you haven't done before…with less to gain."Rayborn was Iago whispering in the ear of Othello, hoping to provoke the younger man's powerful rage.

"I can't, I won't… hurt her like that," he objected to the idea that Reese would not ever be his. He was so close to what he wanted to risk it now - over a decades old grudge between two men. But he'd seen this in prison, innocents tied up in the Machiavellian politics of powerful men, mean men, mean without conscious or commitment to others.

"Do you really think Dani loves her dear old dad that much? You think she wouldn't be relieved to find her father was gone. Hell, if you do it right…Nevikov still might get the credit from beyond the grave."

"How do you see this ending?"

"What's important is how YOU see this ending. My time is over. My influence is at an end. I own a few people and places around town, but my taste for it is gone. You were the smart one; you never developed a taste for it – power, the most powerful narcotic known to man. All you want is the girl, right?"

Charlie nodded his eyes never straying from his goal. "I want…just her. To marry her, to take care of them, maybe in time some more kids. I just want peace. But I don't know how to get it and I don't think that's what she wants," Crews sounded confused, disgusted and utterly lost.

"What she wants, son - is you. I've known her since she was a little girl. She's tough, but she needs someone who commands her respect but who won't ask her to be someone she's not," Rayborn urged. "I think you are that man. So does Jack – that's the reason behind his warning. I think you have to let her decide and respect her choice."

"What if she doesn't want me?" Charlie sounded mildly insecure.

"She does," Rayborn laughed again. "You have to stop forcing things, son."

"Why do you keep calling me that?"

"Because some family is born and some family is chosen. I chose you just as you chose her. You could have had a million women since prison and this is the one you chose. I have other children, but you're the son I wanted. The son I couldn't ever have, the man I couldn't ever be," Rayborn explained. "You were perfect for this and I could have given you the world, but you didn't want that. Sound familiar?"

"Dani doesn't want me to give her things, to take care of her – or Sarah. She wants to do it on her own, like I did." Charlie found the nugget of truth hidden in the conversation.

"Yes," Rayborn exhaled in relief. "You have learned what I set out to show you," the older man smiled.

"I love her," Charlie said as though it made a difference.

"And she loves you," Rayborn concluded, "but that doesn't mean you'll be happy. It doesn't guarantee success."

"There are no guarantees," Charlie repeated a lesson he'd learned often.

"I'm leaving now," Rayborn said quietly, "And you are going to let me go."

Crews gave him a hard look.

"You're going to let me go, because you have to choose Charlie. You can chase me or them," Rayborn told him plainly. "So I'll ask you again….What do you want son?"

* * *

Charlie was still staring at Dani and Sarah when Rayborn stepped away. He never saw him go or felt the absence of him. What he felt was warmth: the warmth of his affection for Sarah; the warmth of his love of Dani; and the warmth of the sunshine that bathed them both in it's healing light. He waved and his girls noticed him. He smiled and they smiled back. Sarah ran towards him and he stood still as she approached.

"Daddy," she breathlessly threw herself into his arms.

"Hello, angel," he hugged her tightly as his eyes swam in tears. He blinked and when his vision cleared his partner's dark shape eclipsed the bright sun.

"Hi," he spoke quietly to his partner. "You okay?"

"She's fine," Dani confirmed Sarah was unscathed, but Crews was undeterred in the focus of his question.

"Are YOU okay, Dani?" his voice stronger as he regained control of his emotions.

Dani Reese looked at him and something changed in their relationship in those moments. "Where's Rayborn?" she inquired.

"Gone," he said plainly. "I had to choose between chasing my past and hoping for my future. I chose you – both of you."

Again the quizzical and skeptical look of his partner answered his statement, then her eyes softened. "You made the right choice." Her words were just a whisper as she leaned close and kissed him. "You did good, Charlie."

Sarah parroted her mother's words. "You did good, Daddy," she confirmed softly as her "parent's kiss" changed from a simple expression of relief to all the unspoken, unrequited love of the preceding years. Although she didn't understand the conversation, she felt the undercurrent tying them together.

Both of them laughed at Sarah's approving comment, breaking their kiss. This time Charlie looked at her and stroked her face before drinking deeply from her lips. She surrendered to his kiss and moaned into his mouth.

"Ewww," Sarah wriggled in discomfort. "Stop all this kissing. It's gross," she demanded.

Charlie disengaged slowly, leaving no question that he was reluctant to leave the refuge of Dani's lips. "Let's go home," his voice was deep and rich and happy.

"Don't forget my puppy," Sarah reminded.

"Okay, sweetheart," Charlie promised as he wrapped his arm around Dani's waist and began walking across the green grass.

"He's been a very bad puppy, Daddy," Sarah informed. "He ate bunches of Uncle Mickey's shoes," she continued to animatedly advise them of the pup's antics. "He dug up the flowers and he peed in the closet. Rosa says he is el Diablo."

"Well," Charlie laughed, "'guess you know what to name him now."


	13. Chapter 12

"Crews," his partner called to him after Sarah and the devil dog were safely in the backseat. He looked at her and his breath caught. She twisted her head as if she was seeing him for the first time. "You changed," she pronounced.

"Yes," he smiled at her perceptiveness. "I learned something."

"What?" she wondered.

"That I still don't know. That I'll never know. That I'm okay not knowing," he tried to explain. "That I'm lucky to be here in this moment."

She stared at him a long moment and then spoke two very telling words, "me too."

He was happy for just a moment, and then she finished her thought. There was iron in her tone as she spoke the words, "but this isn't over Crews, not by a long shot."

He questioned her with just his eyes, so she gave him the rest of the talk. "You're gonna tell me what he said to you, what he did to you…to make to let him just walk away. Maybe not today, maybe not tonight, but someday – soon – you will tell me."

He knew she spoke the truth. Forfeit was written all over his face and she read the surrender in his pale blue eyes. He would give her what she'd asked for, but he'd do it in his own time, in his own way. She knew he'd wrestle with how much to say, how far to go, but when the time came she wanted all of his truth no matter how much it might hurt. She owed him that much.

* * *

"Yes," Jack Reese answered the burner phone he did business on.

"The girl is Dani's," Tidwell confirmed.

"How?"

"I didn't get much more than that from her, but the girl is hers. Rayborn has her and that can't be good."

"Her's with who?" Reese wondered aloud still fixated on how he could have a granddaughter and not know. He was trying to piece together how he'd missed something this big in his daughter's life.

"I don't know. Just not Crews' kid," Tidwell editorialized, "thank God for that."

"No kiddin'," Reese added caustically. "Wait, how old is that kid?"

"Three to five, I'd guess," Tidwell managed an approximate age range.

Reese was all business. "Check Department records on Dani's undercover stint," Reese said as he began to connect the dots. "There was a boy…what the hell was his name? Uh…Dennis…no David. He'd be in there, in her file, some reference to a junkie who OD'd. Look him up, find out what you can and call me back."

The call ended before Tidwell could impart anything else – maybe that was best.

"Nobody ever thanks Tidwell, nobody ever asks Tidwell for a beer, Tidwell is beginning to really hate LA."


	14. Chapter 13

They were home. They were safe, but only Crews knew that safety and security were both illusions he could ill afford. Still on this night alone, he indulged in the fantastic and incredible fact that both his girls – although neither was technically his – not yet anyway – were under his roof, held loosely in his arms.

Sarah was already asleep. No stories, no playtime, just little lids drooping, heavy with sleep in her mother's arms and breathing evenly. He envied her that peace, that innocence. He sighed heavily and Dani chuckled.

"You sound like I feel," her voice was coarse from fatigue and too much strain.

"Go to sleep, sweetheart," he urged kissing her temple.

"I'm not a little girl," she grumbled.

"No, but you're my girl," he argued. "Just let me have just this one, just for tonight, that I can hold you both close and keep you safe."

"I'm too tired to argue with you Crews," she capitulated without any effort at resistance. "You feel too good, too warm, I can't keep my eyes open."

"Then sleep. I will watch over you," he vowed.

* * *

He rose late in the darkest part of night to place Sarah in her own bed, in her own bedroom. So far as the child was concerned, she'd just been on another, of many adventures and treating her differently would frighten her where she'd not known fear before. Dani didn't like it, but his logic won out.

"She's safe?" a grumbling partner asked as he returned alone to their bed in the dark.

"Yes," he answered surely, "and for the first time since I've owned this house, every single door is locked, every window bolted shut and the alarm system is on."

"With all the people who want you dead, you're telling me that you've never done that before?"

"No," he said plainly. "I never had anything worth protecting before," he rationalized partially for her and partially for himself. He realized part of why he didn't lock things was a fear of locks that remained after prison. Rayborn had taught him that was an illusion he must let go of. The longer he thought about his conversation with the older man, the deeper the lessons in it went.

"God," Dani complained, "I just want things to go back to normal."

"What's normal?" he wondered as he slid into bed alongside her.

"You're my partner, we work cases, we argue and then we go home," she illustrated.

"We're not partners anymore, Dani," he told a hard truth. "We're not likely to be ever again. LAPD is not taking me back this time."

"I know that," she said glumly dragging a hand across her face to wash the sleep away. "I just….I don't like it. You and me….well, it just works."

"Everything changes, all the time," he said sounding older and more worldly than he felt. "It's the only constant – change. And you and me are still….you and me."

"Yeah?" her voice was dark with sarcasm. He looked down and tried to read her eyes, but the room was far too dark. "You like change? Is that Zen? You being all about embracing change?"

"Yeah," he exhaled. _What choice did he have really? Change occurred whether he wanted it to or not. _Sometimes he could set events in motion, but never foresee how they would play out. "I guess…it's Zen."

"Then embrace this," she challenged pulling him down to her and kissing him deeply. Her tongue parted his lips and he knew this was a dance she intended to finish. Everything changed right here. Even here she commanded the scene, every inch the aggressor and surprise was her ally.

He groaned at the delicacy of her touch, the smoothness of her lips and skin. His hands were on her without thought moving clothes until he could place his hands on the warm skin beneath them. When they broke, he could barely breath. A moment of shock registered before his instinct took over and he pressed her to the mattress kissing her with ferocity and purpose. They were breathless and on fire. This changed everything. This was change. This was lightning in a bottle. He didn't ask her if she was sure; he had to believe she was. This was her choice and she chose him.

_Author's Note: Couple chapters of fluff before we dive back into the action. Hope you enjoy the happy times._


	15. Chapter 14

They awoke to tugging and a two-foot tall, bleary eyed brunette announcing, "I'm hungry."

"I'll go," he said quietly kissing his partner softly and taking Sarah by the hand.

"Let's make pancakes, angel."

"Okay, Daddy," the girl eagerly agreed. "Can they have chocolate chips?"

"How bout bananas?" he countered.

"Ewww," she replied.

"Blueberries?" he tried another alternative.

"Uh-uh," her daughter roundly rejected Crews' fruity offerings. She was more like her mother than anyone thought. Dani smiled at their interaction as she rolled over, stretched and then buried herself deep in the impression left by Crews inhaling his scent enjoying the warmth he left trying to return to sleep. It felt so good last night. Her partner was now her partner in an entirely different way. It should have felt more guilty, like she was cheating on Tidwell, but maybe all along Tidwell had been the cheating – when she should have been with Crews.

Even now as she detected the scent of strong coffee wafting from a Styrofoam cup that her young daughter cautiously carried upstairs, he was there.

"Daddy said you need this," Sarah explained. "He said it's kinda like your medicine."

"Daddy," Dani rose to a seated position in bed, "gets smarter all the time."

Sarah scooted into bed alongside her mother and sidled up to her. "Mommy? Uncle Mickey says Daddy isn't my real daddy."

Dani almost choked on her coffee. _How dare that bastard take such license?_ "He did – did he?"

Sarah nodded and looked at her expectantly. Dani was to fill in the blanks and redefine their future. Whatever she said became reality to Sarah. She couldn't know that Charlie stood frozen just outside the door, glued to the spot and heart hammering madly at what she would choose.

"Do you love him? Daddy?"

Sarah nodded.

"Me too," Dani explained.

"Does he take care of us?"

Sarah nodded again. "I think sometimes family is who we choose and I choose him. I choose you and I couldn't choose a better daddy for you if I tried, but you have to decide if he's what you want and if I'm what you want? I thought you were happy before and safe. Do you want to go back to living with Rosa and moving around a lot?"

It was a big decision for a four and a half year old. It was coincidentally the same style of decision Rayborn had posed to Crews. It had to be Dani's choice and Dani had let it be Sarah's choice. The parallels were mindboggling. Sarah's little brow furrowed and she considered the choice before her earnestly.

"I want to stay here – with you Mommy and with my Daddy – he's mine and I love him - even if Uncle Mickey doesn't like him, I do. He's funny and he makes me feel warm and happy all the time," but at the end of her recitation of rationale she arched her brow and considered a con.

"But?" Dani asked.

"He eats a lot of weird stuff," Sarah said dubious of the quality of the fruits Charlie was so fond of. Dani laughed out loud raucously.

"Hey," Charlie joked making his entrance, "what's all this laughing about?"

Neither brunette would answer, but they wore the same sly smile.

"Brought you pancakes," he tempted.

"With chocolate chips?" she inspected the fluffy cakes with flecks of brown.

"With raisins," he announced.

A knowing look passed between mother and daughter. Charlie sank to his knees beside them and held the plate out. "Speak now or forever hold your peace."

"Give me the damned pancakes," Dani demanded darkly but with a teasing tone.

"Language," he reminded under his breat.

Sarah chimed in, "it's okay, Daddy. Uncle Mickey says 'damn' all the time. Sometimes he even says…"

Charlie's hand over her mouth stopped any further expletives from escaping it. Charlie sat in bed beside them. "Nice little girls don't say those things," he chastised lightly.

Dani nodded in agreement.

He kissed Dani on the head and mumbled into her ear, "neither do mommies."

"How do you know I'm nice?" Sarah asked devilishly. Too much of her mother colored her features, humor and affect. "Maybe I'm like my puppy," she teased.

"Let's hope not," Dani ruffled her daughter's hair and made the statement that would cement their future. "Do like your father says and don't repeat things you hear me or Uncle Mickey say."

Her daughter dutifully nodded and then whispered, "you can pick the raisins out."

Charlie's mock exasperation was punctuated with the pronouncement, "you're both going to die of scurvy."

"What's scurvy?" Sarah wondered.

"It's this thing you get from lack of Vitamin C," he rolled onto his stomach, grabbed her and began tickling her. "Little girls who won't eat their fruit run terrible risks. You get pick stripes all over, then itches and tickles and finally flowers grow out of your ears."

"You're making that up," Sarah laughed gaily.

"Yes," Dani assured her, "he's making that up, but you should eat some fruit. Not as much as Daddy. No one eats as much fruit as Daddy, but we can find something you like."

"And then I won't get scurvy?" Sarah seemed mildly concerned at her risk despite the assurances Dani gave her.

"Guaranteed," Charlie promised. "Did I tell you I own an orange grove?"

"You do?" the little girl's eyes went wide with awe. "How many oranges do you have?"

Charlie rolled onto his back and said proudly, "thousands…maybe millions."

Sarah scrambled down to his end of the bed to climb on his chest and look him directly in the eye. "You really have a million oranges?"

"No….We…have a million oranges," he winked conspiratorially.

"How many is a million?" she asked.

Lost he looked to Dani for help, "uh…well."

"Oh, no Mr. Million Oranges," she chuckled. "You got yourself into this mess and you can get yourself out of it. I'm going to wash this dish and then take a shower. Now both of you…out of my bed."

"She's bossy don't you think?" Charlie asked.

"Well, she is in charge. She's Mommy," Sarah answered as if that explained everything Dani ever did. _And maybe it did_ Charlie thought.

"Yes, that she is," Charlie agreed and quickly lifted Sarah onto his shoulders, ducked under the doorframe and raced down the stairs while she shrieked happily.


	16. Chapter 15

Fifteen minutes after Charlie and Sarah left to count their "millions" of oranges, she called Tidwell. It was a talk that was long overdue and one she and Crews hadn't discussed her having. They also hadn't talked about why he let Rayborn go so she figured this made them about even.

Charlie would not like her talking to her ex – for some reasons that made sense and some that had nothing to do with logic. Zen or not, Crews particular distaste for Tidwell was one part male pride and a tiny bit of that nasty animal called attachment which Crews professed he didn't do - except that he did – with her.

Charlie and Sarah were about to embark on a trip to a place that when Dani pronounced "pass" on, Crews didn't even question her about. That grove and the depth of things revealed on that day were too fresh an injury for her. The truths she'd learned about her partner and herself that day were something she was still getting used to, albeit sharing his bed was getting easier and easier all the time. His warmth, the strength she knew he possessed and the easy affection they both felt were something she could easily become accustomed to.

While she was still a bit cautious, most of her heart lay firmly in the pale hands of her partner and his she held in the hollow of her small tanned ones. Their lives intertwined, knotted together like their hands as she walked them to the car in the drive. With Sarah safely in the car seat, he turned and asked her questions with just his pale blue eyes. She rolled her brown ones at him, he kissed her forehead and promised he'd be home before dinner. There was laughter in her voice and a smile on her face.

"Like I'm cooking you dinner mister?" she wryly questioned.

"We'll order out," he vowed. "Hawaiian pizza?"

"No fruit on my pizza, Crews," she warned.

"Obviously, you missed my lecture on the dangers of scurvy," he teased as he sparked the throaty engine to life. He donned those peculiar orange shades of his and his teeth gleamed as he smiled and roared off. The sound of Sarah giggling in the backseat followed them down the hill until she lost sight of them.

In truth, for Dani Reese, that day in the orange grove was like someone ripped the band-aid off her wounded, fragile soul. It was sudden, and painful and yet somehow very necessary, almost lifesaving. It was, as if, since that day her soul was healing faster and more soundly. The sunshine Charlie frequently basked in was drying and healing old scars, wounds she'd nursed for years. Healing sometimes hurt but she'd long rubbed salt in old wounds keeping them fresh and painful. Now they were tougher, but succumbing to the salve that was Crews – and Sarah. Peace, tranquility and love were her constant companions these days and it showed.

Crews knew better than to push, so he carefully distracted Sarah with idle chatter, his eyes never leaving his partner's until she gave him a nod that let him know. She knew that he understood and she was going to be fine without them - and their millions of oranges. Sarah beamed smiles from her seat and waved as they drop off. Charlie face was neutral, but he trusted her and he had to let her know he did. This proved it.

* * *

Tidwell answered on the third ring, trying not to seem too eager. His voice held strain that she could hear the moment he spoke. "You wanted to talk," she opened strongly, "so…talk."

"Not here, not over the phone," Tidwell whined. "I want to see you, babe."

"Don't call me that," she said flatly.

"Fine," his pain was present in his reply. "HE wants to see you."

"Your employer?"

"Yes," he exhaled and she could imagine him running his hand through his shaggy mop of brown hair.

"Which one?" she continued to toy with him.

"Your father," he replied and was more snarky than snide.

"Century City Mall parking lot in an hour," she demanded. "Oh…and Captain?"

He waited for it.

"Does my father know we were fucking?"

Two very telling words there, he deduced quickly. "Were" meaning they were a thing of the past and "fucking" meaning they were not serious, just something to pass the time. "Yeah, he knows," Tidwell replied. "He thought I was good for you."

She scoffed. "My father doesn't know the first thing about me – or what's good for me."

"I'll be there, Dani," he told her eagerly, but he spoke to empty air. She'd ended the call and was already gone. Maybe she'd always been gone and he just never saw it.


	17. Chapter 16

When Tidwell pulled into the parking lot, he noticed Dani's small blue subcompact parked alone, well away from the mall. Her car was still within distance of the surveillance cameras, but not so close as to attract attention from daily shoppers about their business. She was alone – as was he.

Jack Reese would follow later, once he was certain this was not a trap. Reese didn't trust anyone, not even his own daughter. Tidwell was beginning to see where the Reese family had a common streak of mistrust running through their DNA.

She climbed from her car as he parked and motioned to the concrete wall that separated the mall from the next structure. There'd be no hugging, not even a handshake greeted him.

"Tidwell gets it," he began. "You're pissed."

A brow arched and he continued. "I'm gonna come clean. I'll give you everything," he vowed solemnly. She nodded and he began the tale. "After you partnered with Crews….actually you were partnered with Crews because Davis swore she could control you. You were supposed to help the Department get rid of him." He paused to watch her reaction.

She sighed and appeared bored. "I know that. Everyone knows that. You don't put an ex-junkie fresh out of rehab with the Department's newest millstone unless you expect someone to rat someone out."

"But you didn't," Tidwell probed. "And I know Crews does shady shit, but you never gave him up."

She shook her head no. He wasn't certain she even knew she was doing it, but her refusal to turn on Crews was something she couldn't contain. That was what they learned that first year, Davis didn't control Dani and she never would.

"Uh…that's where I came in," he offered. "I was supposed to drive a wedge between you and Crews, separate you if I could."

"Whatever it took huh?" her pain was palpable. She read a lot into that comment. Her self-esteem issues took him to mean their romance was all part of his job. That misperception he wanted…no needed… to correct.

"Hey," he reached for her and she pulled away. "Not that part. I really liked you. I still do. You're tough and you're funny and you have great…"

"Unless you want me to shoot you right here, don't finish that sentence," she dared.

"Instincts," he dared finish it anyway. She glared at him, but made no move to harm him. "Your father warned Crews to leave you out of this mess, but Crews didn't. He had you bring in Kyle Hollis while he threatened your old man from the roof of a building six blocks away. Hollis was your father's informant, Dani."

Her eyes went wide and he could see the shock. She said it out loud because she had to. "You mean that my father's informant was the man who killed those people? The man that Charlie went to prison for worked for my father?"

So it was _Charlie_ now, no longer the Crews of old Tidwell thought. This was bad; so much worse than when he got to LA. She was now not only loyal to Crews, but there was a very good chance she was in bed with him – quite literally. _Jack Reese was going to kill him._

He didn't answer; he didn't have to. Her quick little brain took her were they would have gone with words faster than he could have told the tale.

"So he knew," the venom that dripped from her lips matched the fire in her eyes.

Tidwell interpreted the comment to be about Jack knowing that Crews was innocent, but in Dani's brain it had gone far further.

Crews knew her father was responsible for putting him behind bars and he'd lied to protect her from a truth he couldn't change. Telling her changed nothing, but it caused her pain, so he held that hot coal in his hand so it would burn only him. Part of her was touched, but another part was pissed at his lack of honesty and trust in her. Then she reflected, she hadn't told him she was coming here and that would anger the unshakeable mountain of Zen to its core…so perhaps they were even.

"And sending me to the FBI?" She rose and began to pace like a tiger in a cage.

"Was to try to convince you that you could do more, be more…that you could be valuable without Crews? Your father thought it was a good idea too - to get you away from him. But, Dani…all we ever talked about when you and I talked during those weeks - was Crews."

"All the FBI ever asked me about was Crews….and Rayborn. Tell me again how you can work for my father and take money from Rayborn," she demanded eyes narrowing and focusing on her target.

"I didn't know that Rayborn's people were….I swear Dani. I thought the FBI thing was a legit offer. I had no idea of the level of gamesmanship out here. It's like a freaking Godfather movie with crime families running everything. Except out here they are all cops." He exhaled and she almost believed him – almost.

"Nevikov owned everyone at that FBI office," she said flatly. "The whole thing was a ploy, to get me to bring them Crews and when that didn't work – to get Crews to bring them Rayborn.

"I swear on my mother's grave, Dani. I had no idea. Your father had no idea. I was scared to death when Crews brought that tape in. You in some basement tied to a chair with blood on your face…" he stepped closer and she stiffened.

"Nevikov didn't want Crews. He wanted Rayborn. So if Nevikov owned the FBI operation then who was he working for?" she pressed.

Tidwell stared slack jawed.

She laid it out for him again, slower, more patiently. "You sent me to the FBI – but the FBI wanted Crews. Nevikov didn't want Crews – he wanted Rayborn. So who wanted Crews, Captain?"

"I did," her father pronounced in a dark tone as he stepped into the conversation.

He'd remained hidden through most of their talk, but made his presence known now that it became necessary.

"Leave," he demanded of Tidwell. Tidwell beat a hasty retreat without another word.

As the sound of his car engine waned, it was just them – father and daughter.

"I hate you," she opened with strong words and stronger feelings.

"Oh," he laughed darkly, "believe me, I know."

"What you did to Crews…what you did to me…what you did to our family…" she listed off his many sins. "You're a monster."

"And what is Crews?"

Her head twisted to the side and her look told him she did not follow.

"Charlie Crews is a convicted murderer, an ex-convict, a man who has killed….well, a helluva lot more people than I have and still you love him. How is that?"

She was at a loss for words for a couple reasons: 1) she wasn't entirely sure why she loved Crews; she just knew she did; and 2) she wasn't sure until that exact moment that her father knew.

She opened her mouth twice but no words would come. He'd done that to her since she was a child - scared her speechless.

"The girl? Sarah? She's your's?"

Dani nodded mutely.

"And you intend to raise her with Crews?"

Again she nodded but not as sharply.

"You hid her all these years from your mother and I? With Mickey Rayborn? Jesus, Dani….you could have brought her home. Your mother and I would have taken her in. Rayborn? Really…?" He was judging her – again.

That sanctimonious rant was what snapped Dani out of her mute episode. She saw colors so red she thought she was experiencing sunstroke. "You'd raise her? You'd take her in? So she could be what? Another girl who didn't measure up? Another mistake you regretted? So you could make her ashamed of who she was? No," she was dangerously close to losing it as she walked away shaking her head.

"Now, listen Dani…" he began in the lecturing tone she remembered from her youth.

"No," she shouted. "You listen. You stay away from my daughter and stay away from me. If I see you anywhere near any of my….I'll kill you. I swear on all that's holy, in any religion… I'll put a bullet in you."

"I'm just trying to protect you," he shouted back.

"From what?" she demanded.

He was so close that spittle from his mouth marred the lens of her sunglasses as he shouted at her, "from that fucking maniac Crews."

"I love that fucking maniac and you stay the hell away from him too," she shouted back. Jack Reese acted as though she'd slapped him.

"No, no, no, no…." he paced away and the synchronicity of her reaction and her father's made her scowl. "I forbid it Dani."

"I'm not your little girl anymore," she pulled back. Her anger was more under control as she delivered her parting shot. "I don't answer to your idea was what's right."

"No one in the Department will help you without my say so," he called after her.

She reached her car and opened the door.

"You'll be on your own," he taunted.

"No," she laughed darkly. "I won't be alone. I'll be with Crews." With that she climbed inside, sparked the little engine to life and did not look back.

Jack Reese bellowed at the empty sky. _Crews….fucking Charlie Crews…_


	18. Chapter 17

She couldn't go home, not like this. Hate coursed through her veins, anger reigned supreme; instead she went to the gym. Hour after hour of punishing lifts, curls and rounds in the boxing rink sparring burned off her anger and tempered her rage and fury to a white hot sliver of danger. Only then could she return to her family, balanced, spent and open.

When she opened the door, the first thing she noticed was blood. Forensics or not, she'd been murder police long enough to know blood when she saw it. It was a good amount too. She could taste the coppery metallic tang of it in her throat and smell the sickly sweet of it turning sticky in the deeper spots. Blood on the steps, blood on the marble floor, bloody towels and a mangled shirt – Crews' covered in drying burgundy stains.

She raced through the house and found no one and nothing that explained what she saw. She reached for her phone – only to find that it died hours ago in her gym bag.

She plugged it in and waited what seemed hours, but was in truth only minutes for the system to reboot and her voicemail to announce messages – three of them - from Crews. She dialed his number and waited.

When the line connected, a tiny voice came on. Sarah sniffed back tears and answered with a cautious and tentative, "hello."

"Baby, are you okay? Where are you?"

"Mommy," she sighed and began crying in earnest. Someone took the phone from her and then another voice came on the line – her mother's. All Dani's mother would say was they were at the hospital that Sarah was fine and that Dani should come. Then she abruptly ended the call.

* * *

She raced to Cedar's Sinai and parked in the tow away zone, not caring if the car was there when she returned or not. She quickly scanned the Emergency Room waiting area, but Sarah's voice sang out "Mommy" before she could even locate them. Sarah ran into her arms and Roya Reese with a very disapproving look walked slowly up to them.

Sarah clutched Dani and cried bitterly. Her words came in between gulps of air and tears. Dani could only make out four words, which were "wolves, puppy, Daddy and fight."

She looked to her mother for clarification and only received a disdainful shrug and regal pronouncement. "Why should I know about this? I have only just learned I have a grandchild and from your partner, not you."

Dani sighed, rolled her eyes, disentangled herself from Sarah and approached the nurse's stand. "Uh…hi, my uh….partner was brought in or came in with our little girl. His name is Charlie Crews. He's 6'1"; 180 lbs, red hair, bright blue eyes and lots of freckles."

"Are you his wife?" the nurse asked pointedly.

"Yes," Dani lied.

"He's in Exam 3. I'll show you the way," the nurse rounded the station and lead Dani around the corner to a room off the main hallway. "He says he's fine, but he's going to need several stitches in several places. He's no stranger to stitches is he?"

"Mr. Crews," the nurse alerted her patient. "Your wife's here." The woman questioned pointedly. "Where'd he get all those cuts from?"

"Prison," Dani answered and left the woman stand there gaping as she stepped into the room and pulled the curtain closed around her.

Crews' pulled the towel-covered arm from over his eyes and regarded her. "Hey," he said softly, trying to sit up. "I tried to call you," he offered.

She pushed him back down on the bed, "What the hell happened Crews?"

"Uh…" he tried to sit up again and again her hand firmly in the middle of his chest suggested he stay down. "We came home. Sarah let the puppy out. It was dusk and I wasn't thinking, but the coyotes must have gotten into the pool area. When I heard her scream, four of them had the pup pinned in the corner and he was fighting them but losing. I grabbed one by the neck and pulled it off, but they just kept coming and biting," he held up his arm and several deep gashes showed.

Crews continued, "I got the pup and Sarah inside. She's fine, she's not hurt, but I couldn't reach you – I didn't know who to call, so I called your mom."

"I know I saw her," Dani's hand stroked his face. "We spoke. Well, not really, but….it's not important now. I'm just glad you're okay," she leaned in and kissed him softly.

He relaxed now that she was there. His trust in her was apparent in that he let his guard down now that she was there. The pain he'd sublimated seeped through behind his eyes. It made her feel incredibly guilty that her phone was off while he was reaching for her. "Why didn't you answer your phone?" he asked tiredly.

"Jesus, you look like hell Charlie," she chided trying to distract him and her both from her guilt.

He took the bait and replied with as witty a quip as he could muster. "I feel worse than I look. Who knew coyotes were so tough? They are almost as tough as you," he joked.

"Fighting wolves… that's what Sarah said you were doing."

"She's four. I'm sure they looked bigger to her," he reasoned. "I took the puppy to the vet first, then I came here," Charlie offered. "Can you check on him? Sarah's gonna be heartbroken if he doesn't make it."

"More heartbroken if you don't," Dani joked. "Rabid?"

"Never been tested. Although some people have accused me of it," he teased.

"Funny," she chastised him. "I meant the coyotes?"

"Don't know, maybe…. They were bold and completely unafraid. I think I killed a couple of them, " he suggested. "Better not tell Ted," he noted quietly to himself.

"You shot a gun with my daughter…" she began to get angry.

"No gun," he assured her. "With my hands, just my hands, Dani."

"I'm going to take Sarah home. I'll leave her there with my mother, clean up the blood and whatever else I find…then come back for you," she was all business.

"I'm calling you the next time I have to dispose of a body," he joked. Then he touched her arm lightly, "Check on the pup will ya?"

She nodded and kissed him again before rising to leave.

"I'll be right here until my wife comes to fetch me," he teased.

She rolled her eyes and left him smiling. She passed the surgeon on his way in.

"Oh, hey doc…." she heard him begin to joke with the young doctor. "Think you could make this one into a smiley face?"

"I"ll be back in two hours, Charlie," she warned. "Don't leave the hospital."

"Yes, mom," he chirped in cheeky reply.


	19. Chapter 18

She called the vet on the way home and was astounded to hear the pup had a few puncture wounds, but was otherwise fine. They could take him home tonight, a prospect that Sarah eagerly agreed to.

Forty minutes later, a bandaged baleful looking black and white puppy snuggled into Sarah's car seat and began licking her. They were both asleep before they made it home.

The oppressive silence of the car was a function of Roya's fury, one she felt but would not give voice to.

"Mom," Dani began. "It was a mistake not telling you about her."

Roya regarded her daughter, but remained mute. Her anger lessened, but would not wane for several days. Dani knew from experience, her mother would forgive her in time, but no amount of talking would make that time pass faster. Dani respected her silence and used the time to quietly tell her mother about the boy, her choice, why she'd hidden Sarah and with whom.

To her mother's credit, she listened without comment or question. Questions would come, but only after her mother deliberated and absorbed her confession. This was the pattern of her childhood – an explosive, angry father and a measured, deliberate and much cooler mother. For a moment she considered herself and Crews; and the obvious parallels. They were deep and multiple, but she was determined not to be her father.

When they arrived home, Dani carried Sarah and Roya the puppy, to the bedroom Charlie'd built for her in his home.

"She is to live here now?" Roya questioned. "With this man?"

"We both do, mom," Dani said quietly tucking her daughter in. After much grumbling, it was decided "el Diablo" could sleep with her – a decision neither Dani nor Roya liked, but one in which Sarah would not budge.

It took another ninety minutes of steady work by both women to clean up the bloodstains and clothing. Dani also found the carcasses of three coyotes on the patio with their necks snapped. She buried them under a fruit tree in Charlie's side yard. It was near midnight when she left her mother in Rachel's room and returned to the hospital to retrieve her partner.

* * *

Crews was sitting on a bench outside the ER with a homeless man who was spinning yarns and sucking on a bottle of Colt 45 between tall tales. Dani parked the car legally this time and watched him as she walked across the parking lot.

The old man was talking up a storm; he glowed with energy and enthusiasm.

And Crews was actively listening to him; that was Crews' gift – his attention. Many people, most people probably ignored the man all day long - never once meeting his eyes, listening to his story, caring that he existed, but Crews did and it wasn't feigned. It wasn't to win her affection or impress her; he didn't even know she was there. He was real to this seemingly meaningless person in a very meaningful way.

He noticed her as she walked to him. "Hey," he said to the old man. "I'd like you to meet my wife," he said rising to kiss her on the cheek. "This is my Dani," he said as if that explained everything. Maybe it did.

"You got yourself a brave fella there, Miss," the old man compliment Crews and his many battle scars.

"Or a crazy one," she joked.

"Sometimes you gotta be crazy to be brave," the old man pronounced.

"Is that Zen?" she wondered.

"I don't know what's Zen and what ain't," he laughed. Charlie just smiled slyly.

"I have to go now, Otis. How about you get a room for the night and buy a round on me?" Charlie handed the man a couple hundred dollars.

"That's….that's too much," Otis smiled and protested but took the money anyway. "I believe I could get a room for a week with this. Yes, sir. Thank you – good night to you and your missus." He shambled off and left just the two of them standing there in the neon glow of the ER lights.

"You're sure getting a lot of mileage off this wife thing," she noticed.

"I don't know," he rubbed his chin which was more furry than usual given the hour. "I was thinking if you tried it on for awhile you might get used to it."

"We are not getting married Crews," she told him flatly. "Now get in the car."

"Okay," he did as he was told. "But I have to tell you… that if you're just going to use me for sex, you could at least make me breakfast once in awhile."

"There will be no sex while my mother is sleeping under our roof," she decreed.

"I'll drive her home in the morning," he deadpanned. "6AM too early?"


	20. Chapter 19

He stiffly sat on the bed and bent to take off his shoes. Getting undressed was going to be a chore; luckily he was about to get some help. He couldn't manage and she knew it.

"Wait for me," she demanded. She went into the bathroom, changed into one of his blue dress shirts, got a wet cloth and made her way back into the bedroom.

By now he was reclining and admiring the view, his eyes were glazed and it was apparent they'd given him something for the pain, something he'd been fighting up until now. He didn't even try to pretend he wasn't checking out her legs as she walked up to him. She arched her brows in mock shock and was greeted by a wide, easy grin. "Don't move," she demanded as she knelt between his legs and untied his shoes, removing them and his socks. She sat up, rising to unbuckle and unzip his pants. His breath grew ragged as she slid her hands into his pockets to remove his wallet, keys and a small blue box.

"What's in the box?" she purred, pretty sure she already knew.

"Your ring, Mrs. Crews," he growled in a low tone.

"Charlie," she scolded.

"If you don't want to know, then don't ask," he argued coarseness in his voice from want of sleep.

"I told you no."

"Why?" he seemed truly puzzled. "You know I'll just keep asking til you say yes," he yawned.

She didn't answer. He knew she wouldn't. Instead she unbuttoned his shirt, which was bloody and threw it in the corner. She took the warm cloth and began washing the dark stains from his pale body. She was gentle, but thorough; he watched her silently.

It was a Zen ritual for her. No discussion, no comment, just repetitive, smooth motion of her hands over his torso. He never moved to touch her, he just watched. Again giving his gift of attention to her, while she gave him the attention they'd missed in the days before. They were in the same space and time. They both knew it, appreciated it, but neither would give voice to their sameness. It was enough to simply know.

"I love you," he murmured into her hair when he voice returned to him as she rose to leave and return the towels to the bath.

"I love you too, Charlie," she reassured him as she pushed him back onto their bed.

He sat still, watching her, awaiting her return. She paused for a moment and simply looked at him. "Fighting with wolves," she murmured. "You've been doing that all of your life haven't you?" He didn't answer.

She pivoted his feet until they were on the bed and covered him with the duvet. She then climbed into bed on her side and scooted close so he could wrap his mangled arm around her. "No more fighting coyotes barehanded – next time use your knife."

"Sweetheart, I gave up my knife for you," he smiled and pressed his lips against her forehead, "remember?"

"I don't want you to give up anything for me Crews," she vowed. "I want you just as you are."


	21. Chapter 20

"So….Nevikov worked for you?" Tidwell challenged Jack Reese trying out his newfound knowledge, seeing if it led to any power. It didn't.

"That surprise you?"

"Yeah," he scoffed. Tidwell seriously misjudged both man before him and the situation he found himself in. "You'd let that skell take…and manhandle your daughter, just to get at Crews? That's fuckin' cold man. I care about her, ya know. Even if you don't," Tidwell was pissed off and it made him bold.

"Watch yourself, son," Jack warned.

Tidwell's eyes sought the ground and Reese knew he was back in line. "Dani's tough. Tougher than any of you know," he bragged sounding for just a moment like he was proud of you of his daughter. "Nevikov also knew that if he truly harmed her – I'd feed him to his dogs."

"Didn't work though…" Tidwell offered in commentary, still pushing the older man. "Crews was tougher than anyone thought. He's tougher than you think," Tidwell made his point. Crews was not going to be as easily manipulated as a Russian mobster or his longtime friend turned respectable businessman Mickey Rayborn.

"Crews is a conundrum. He's an uncontrollable aspect that has to be neutralized."

"Neutralized? How?" Tidwell wished that he wasn't going to hear what came next because he was pretty sure Jack Reese was going to discuss murdering Charlie Crews.

"Killing him would seem the most efficient means to deal with him," Reese ventured.

"Maybe you haven't noticed, but Crews seems to have more lives than a cat."

"I noticed," the elder Reese's scowl was just as dark as any one his daughter could summon. "Guess if you want something done right you just have to do it yourself," he joked. His grin was fearsome and just a bit evil.

"You know you are talking about killing a sitting LAPD Detective in cold blood?" Tidwell asked incredulous. Reese just smiled. "I can't be a part of this," Tidwell stammered. "There's no amount of money that'll buy another cop's life," he stood strong. "I won't do it."

"You won't have to; I will. You just make sure he's not a Detective anymore and I'll worry about the rest." Reese seemed supremely confident. "That way if he kills me instead, at least he'll go back to prison and my daughter will finally be free of him."

"Isn't there another way?" Tidwell reached.

"I don't see one. He can't be bought, intimidated or controlled. Rayborn can't focus him. No one controls him. He has no loyalties," Reese explained though he didn't have to.

No one knew better than Tidwell the problem that was Charlie Crews. Then an idea floated by, one that had just the wisps of merit and the scent of possibility. "He is loyal to one person – your daughter."

Jack Reese's look was the darkest he'd ever seen. The man said nothing, but he stared as if he wanted to set Tidwell on fire with his eyes. Tidwell walked away and returned to the station. He'd given Jack Reese a non-lethal option. If Reese thought he'd have an easy time killing Charlie Crews, then he was a fool. Just the same, he'd put through the suspension paperwork that ensured Crews would not be on the job.

The die was cast. Reese and Crews or Crews and Reese; this would end with the two names intertwined one way or another.

_Author's Note: Two wee chapters with one itty bitty cliff hanger at the end. Reviews are like candy, sweet and sometimes unexpected._


	22. Chapter 21

Their weekend was not fun. It was a surrealistic nightmare – for everyone, but Sarah. She had all the people she loved in the same place.

Dani made breakfast; simple eggs and bacon, which earned a serious smirk from Charlie after his earlier comment about just "being used for sex." Despite their collective better attempts and offers to arrange transportation for Mrs. Reese to her home; she stayed. She tidied up and supervised – everyone.

They all sought some form of escape, but only Sarah found the magic fix for the grandmotherly supervision. She lured Dani into the pool, since Charlie didn't feel up to swimming. He sat in the shade drinking fruit juice and watching his two girls in the pool and the oppressive LA heat kept Mrs. Reese in the coolness of the house. They spent most of the afternoon, playing or swimming or lounging and napping. Sarah was blessed with Dani's complexion and her little body tanned in the sun instead of burning like Charlie's fair skin. Most of what occurred that afternoon was benign and mimicked a normal family, except that they weren't – normal or a family – not yet.

Sarah traipsed into and out of the kitchen frequently for juice breaks and over the course of four hours brought no less than three glasses of water for her Daddy "in case he was thirsty," which Charlie assured her he was not. Dani's interest was piqued, but she concluded Sarah was just babying Crews much like she tended to due to his injury. However, the third time Sarah emerged from the house with a plastic cup of water - she unceremoniously dumped it on the dozing redhead.

"Hey," he sat up with a start.

Sarah shied away as if she was afraid of him.

He noticed her reaction too. Even though he didn't understand her fear, he respected it.

His second "hey" was softer and more cautious. "Angel?" He questioned. "What's wrong?"

Sarah stood, a good distance away, hands on her hips, squinting at him critically, every inch her mother.

Dani pulled herself out of the pool. "Baby, what is it?"

"He's sick," she told her mother.

"What?" they asked in unison.

"It's rabies," Sarah pronounced, bursting into tears. "I saw…I saw that movie at Uncle Mickey's and that dog….he was afraid of water too." Tears poured from her eyes.

Charlie hid a smirk better than his partner.

"Honey," Dani chuckled. "Daddy does not have rabies."

"But he won't go in the pool and he won't drink any water," she argued tearfully. "I'm sorry. I loved you Daddy. I'm gonna miss you."

This time Charlie bit his lip to keep his mirth contained, but he was careful not to move. "Here," he offered, lifting the cup to his lips and drinking what remained of the water. "See, I'm fine. I love water," he grinned. "I just love juice more."

Sarah launched herself at him with an intensity that surprised everyone. He hugged him so hard that he choked slightly, coughing, but he wrapped his arms around her and returned her hug. He shushed her and rocked her against his chest. He continued to assure her that he was okay and she cried more, but this time in relief. This was the emotion she didn't give voice to last night. In that way, she was again like her mother holding her emotions in check until a dam burst and they spilled in wild streaks of runaway fear.

"Angel," Crews talked in a low tone. "I am never going to leave you. I'll never desert you and you'll never have to go somewhere else to live. You belong here, with me and your mother – and you always will." Crews words were for the little girl, but his eyes never left Dani's; his message was for her too.

Dani surrendered. Her heart and soul was in that tiny girl and her pale protector. No amount of pretending was going to change that now. She wrapped a towel around them both as she sat on the chaise with her daughter and her partner and when both Sarah and Dani sighed in relief, no one was surprised at all. Dani stroked her daughter's hair, as Charlie talked softly to her and Sarah. After a few moments, he coaxed a smile from the child, in a few more, she was laughing at something he said.

Mrs. Reese stood in the kitchen watching them. It transported her back to a time when Dani was Sarah's age and she and Jack Reese were happy. What he said was unintelligible, but it was also unimportant. What they felt was important; it was all that was important. She wrapped her arms around herself as tears pricked at the corners in her eyes. Family was more than whom you were born to, or lived with; it was whom you chose and who stood with you.

The man her daughter had chosen was a fighter, but he had a gentle heart and a kind smile. She felt her anger leaving her gradually as the warmth of their new family melted the coldness she'd felt for many years now. A new chapter was beginning and she wanted to be part of it. She opened the patio door and stepped out. Her family looked up; smiles greeted her – smiles as bright as the LA sunshine.


	23. Chapter 22

Lying in bed later that night, Charlie was stroking Dani's back and they were both giggling as they revisited Sarah's concern about rabies.

"She was seriously concerned," Dani smiled against her mate's chest.

"Very," he agreed solemnly. "That part's not funny at all." He weighed her silence and then delivered a very serious issue of his own. "I want to adopt her."

"You...?"

"I wanna adopt her," he repeated calmly. "I wanna marry you, but you don't seem too interested in that prospect, but I still want to adopt Sarah."

"How exactly is that gonna work? You adopting my daughter?" she sat up and questioned him. The anger he was used to wasn't there, just curiosity and concern.

"Look," he laid all his cards on the table. "LAPD is not taking me back. You know it and I know it. I'm suspended – indefinitely. I think I'd make a good father. I'd try to be a good father to her.

"No one's saying that you won't…" she argued.

"But?" he waited for her argument.

"But I'm not ready to give her up," she countered.

He slid off the bed and onto his knees. "Then don't. Don't give her up. Marry me."

"Charlie," she whined in protest. "I love you, but you really think this is the best thing for us?"

"Yes," he said and she knew he believed it. There was a contest of wills between them as he held her eyes and forced her to come to him with her objections.

"First, we have to be honest with each other," she demanded.

"Fine," he agreed quickly. "You go first," he grinned at her.

She scowled, but began shakily. "Okay, I'm gonna tell you something you're not gonna like," she warned.

"You're rabid?" he joked.

"Continuously," she smiled.

After a moment, she delivered her secret. "My father is alive. He's alive and I think he's pretty much behind all of this mess."

Charlie's look was one part shock and one part deliberately vacant stare.

She saw right through him in ways she never had before. "And….don't pretend for half a second that you didn't know that or at least suspect it already," she warned. "You didn't let Mickey Rayborn just walk away. He said something to you and the only thing, the only person you could want more than Rayborn… is my father."

"You are the best Detective I know," pride colored his voice. He didn't even try to deny or hide what she already knew. "Yes, I know. I've known for awhile, couple days anyway. Rayborn sent me to kill your father. He says it's the only way WE all walk away from this. He says it's the only way I can protect my family."

"No," she barked. His arms wrapped more tightly, stilling her but not stifling her. "Rayborn is using you. He's always used you. If my father kills you – he wins. If you kill him; you'll go back to prison – and he still wins."

"Is there any version of this were we win?" he joked darkly.

"Don't kill him – Charlie. Promise me that you won't do it."

"I promise," he exhaled and looked at the ceiling. "What's your plan?"

"I'm thinking," she vowed.

"Think faster, honey," he kissed her forehead.

Long quiet moments passed, as they were alone together with their thoughts.

"Mind telling me what he said to you?" He ventured boldly. Dani was a private person. He wasn't sure that she's answer at all.

"He told me that he owned Nevikov. That Nevikov worked for him. He…." She stopped as she felt Charlie tense all over. He sat up and sought her eyes.

"Your father let that animal chain you to a chair and hold you hostage in a basement for nine days? I'm not gonna kill him…I'm gonna rip his arms off," he growled. The intensity in his voice bespoke a violent undercurrent although he never raised his volume. Heat rippled off him in waves. He was furious and his rage was truly murderous.

"Charlie," she sought his attention. She sought to bring him back from the edge. She reached for a word that would ground him and hold him there with her. It came to her in a flash; she smelled oranges as she said the word, "breathe."

His eyes told her he understood. His arms relaxed and she felt him take in a long deep breath, hold it for just a moment and then exhale and with his breath he released his fury into the air. "You…" he began shakily, "are my better angel."

"I love you," she assured him. "I am not losing you to him – and I am not losing you to your anger and recklessness. You still have to listen to me Charlie."

"Don't I always?" he leaned close and asked breathlessly in her ear.

She laughed silently and her body shook from it.

"Laugh," he begged, "I love your laugh. You hardly ever laugh sweetheart."

She reached for him with an ever-increasing need. She sucked his bottom lip into her mouth and he groaned in return. "Thought you said no sex while your mom was here," he teased.

"My mother may never leave," she complained as she forced him onto his back and straddled him. "Be quiet, this house echoes," she warned.

"I'm not the one making all those scary noises," he teased. "Giggling and snorting and screaming," he talked as they disrobed one another.

"I do not make any such noise," she asserted and then proceeded to make just such noises as he dragged his tongue across her belly and buried his head between her legs. "Charlie," she gasped breathlessly.

"Shhhh," he coached smiling as he returned to pleasuring her. "Want me to shut the door? Cause I'm just getting started, honey." Cocky Charlie was someone she was growing quite fond of.

"Close the damned door, Crews," she ordered. "Then get your ass back in my bed."

"Your bed?" His smirk was devilish. "I think it's my bed, sweetheart. But marry me. Then it's all yours….the house, the car, the bed, the pool, the orange grove…" he trailed off shutting the door.

"I don't want your money," she argued somewhat distracted by the fact that the object of her affections was standing his hand stroking his manhood waiting.

"What do you want?" his insinuation was both lurid and obvious.

"God dammit Charlie," she barked, but he didn't move. He'd make her say it. He could be a damned oak when he wanted to. "Fine," her exasperation made his moment complete. "I want you."

He began moving the moment the words left her lips and closed on her like a big cat on his prey. "You will marry me," he vowed as his body covered hers.

"In your dreams," she fought back more out of habit than desire. She pulled him to her and the rest of their words and thoughts were lost in the heat of their fire, consumed by their coupling and turned to ash.


	24. Chapter 23

That night was rough. Sarah awoke screaming with nightmares of white wolves. Dani sat with her, but it took Charlie's presence to settle her down. As they sat there, one on each side of Sarah's bed, while she drifted in and out trying to return to sleep; Dani stroked her daughter's hair as Charlie looking out the window watchful of phantoms, wolves and unnamed dangers they could not yet envision. He was her protector, as he was Dani's – after Roman.

Sarah was sweaty and restless. She mumbled something vague about "wolves out the window." What she said didn't make sense, but she was a sensible child. She often reminded Charlie that cartoons were just pretend. She lived on the second floor with her parents and in no danger from wolves or the errant hill coyotes, but something troubled her deeply.

Charlie's interest was peaked. He disconnected and turned to the window where he opened the French doors to her room and stepped out onto her balcony. The balcony was empty, but as he looked to the landing below he saw a set of footprints. They were large, probably made by a man. Crews inclined his head subtly so as to not alert Dani to his observations. He noted scuffmarks on the wall. Someone had scaled this wall and stood on this balcony outside Sarah's room; someone she described as a "white wolf." It didn't take long for Charlie to conclude that Sarah's nightmare was also his - Jack Reese.

* * *

He awoke early and went for a long punishing run. He returned as the sun broke over the edge of the canyons and lit the ground below in long rays of orange light. He entered the unlocked door of his home and listened to the sound of a quiet house. Both Dani and Sarah slept.

He walked to the kitchen, poured a tall glass of orange juice and pondered his problem. Mickey Rayborn wanted Reese dead; he wanted Jack Reese dead, but Dani had forbidden him from taking any action that might result in interaction between her father and him. He turned the problem over and over in his head. There was a polite, quiet rap at the front door. Odd….he thought as he walked to the door and opened it.

He was met with a hard slap to the face from a very pissed off twenty year old woman. Rachel stood there, her face a grimaced and her fists clenched. She glared at him. "You couldn't tell me that she was dead? That she was killed? Just like my parents….just like my brother… butchered."

"Rachel…I…." he began and she slapped him again.

"You bastard," she swore as the tears welling in her eyes broke and streamed down her cheeks. He gathered her into his arms and she sobbed against his chest. He pulled her into the house and closed the door.

Just as she'd left, Rachel returned with a simple blue backpack. She was traveling light and it occurred to Charlie that since her family died, Rachel seemed like a ghost, a vision, not long of this world and not connected to it or the people in it. She was hardly there at all. It had taken being in Sarah's presence for him to notice the difference. Sarah, who despite the awkwardness of her childhood, had not suffered the profound loss Rachel had and thus her soul and psyche appeared whole and hearty. Rachel on the other hand, well…part of her seemed to die that night with her parents and brother. She seemed thin, stretched and gaunt.

About the time Rachel collected herself and pushed away, Sarah came down the stairs with her tattered blue bunny and a patched up black and white puppy in tow. She lit the room with energy. "Daddy?" she questioned. "Who's that?"

"Daddy?" Rachel asked dully looking from Sarah to Charlie.

"Uh…" Charlie stammered. "This? This is Rachel."

"She's not your kid," Rachel rejected the idea outright. "She looks like…" and she trailed off as her quick mind put one and one together. "She looks like Dani Reese," she concluded aloud.

Sarah was now standing at his feet. There were two children before him; neither his, but for whom he felt a sense of profound responsibility and no small measure of affection. They were as different as night and day.

"Daddy?" Sarah reminded him of her presence and her questions. Just like her mother she would not be ignored or thrust aside.

"Angel," he reached down and lifted her to Rachel's level. "Rachel is my niece. She's family and she's been away." Sarah eyed the older girl skeptically. Rachel twisted her head asking an unspoken question. He rolled his eyes and put Sarah down. "Let's get El Diablo outside," he offered a distraction.

"Then you'll make me breakfast?" Sarah confirmed.

"I'll make you both breakfast," he tugged on Rachel's backpack strap. "What do you say kid? Hungry?"

Rachel hesitated a second, before Sarah assured her that her Daddy made the "best pancakes". Her wry smile let him know that while she had a lot of questions; Rachel was home and she'd stay.

Charlie leaned down to speak directly to Sarah's face. "Please go wake your mommy and tell her I need her down here." Sarah made a face that indicated her displeasure with the task of waking Dani.

"Dani," Charlie shouted. There was no response. "See," he said more softly, "this is why I send you."

Sarah turned and trudged up the stairs. She turned at the stair to argue and Charlie reinforced his request. "Tell her I need her down here – today, Sarah."

"Okay," she sighed heavily sounding just like her mother.

Silence descended upon the marble floors. Rachel shifted slightly and Charlie turned to face her. "Dani…."

"…is Dani Reese, your partner, Jack Reese's daughter. I know."

"Yeah, yep….yeah," Charlie stumbled through his reply.

"I knew you loved her from that day we met here in the foyer; the day you shot your father. Something about the way you talked to her, looked at her, I knew. I think I knew even before you knew."

"Well, you're a smart kid," Crews confirmed. "Is this gonna be a problem for you?"

"Because…." She questioned.

"Because she's Jack Reese's daughter," he laid out their dilemma.

"Isn't that supposed to be difficult for you?" she questioned cheekily.

Again silence descended awkwardly. Moments ticked by.

"Your Aunt Jen…" he began.

Rachel looked at him hard and her stern gaze was that of someone so much older than twenty. She'd aged fifty years the night her family was killed. She was and had been such a cynic for the past ten years. She was skeptical and questioning of everything and everyone. Her innocence died the night her family did. He hadn't seen it before; he'd seen the damage, but not the permanence of it. Now when he looked at her and Sarah together; he could see all the cracks in her fragile soul.

"She's dead," Rachel said without a hint of emotion. Just that quickly, Rachel had sealed the walls of emotion he'd seen earlier behind her and she'd not speak of it again. That moment had passed.

Dani appeared at the head of the stairs and his attention turned to her. She looked down at him and he felt instantly better. Something about her simply being in the place, the same space, made him feel better. He glanced at Rachel and a knowing smile appeared in the corners of her mouth. Perhaps she was right, she'd known before he did, perhaps she'd known all along.


	25. Chapter 24

To say things were awkward with Dani and Rachel, was understatement. Both women fumbled over words and actions as they tried to interact in Charlie's kitchen. Sarah and Crews exchanged a knowing look before the precocious four year old took things into her own hands. "Um….this is weird." She announced to the group. "We don't usually have guests at breakfast – except Gramma. Daddy and me are going to make pancakes, so sit down now," her regal highness, all three feet of her, decreed.

Rachel smothered a laugh in her elbow.

Dani looked perturbed, until Charlie chimed in. "That bossiness? She gets that from you," with a bright smile.

Dani rolled her eyes and smirked at Crews.

"Is your mother here?" Rachel asked Dani.

"Uh, yeah…still," Dani admitted. "Charlie had a problems with coyotes and she ended up at the hospital with Sarah….and now she won't go home," Dani whispered in exasperation.

"I haven't seen her since…" Rachel began and then froze as Dani's head inclined in query. "I was at your house when I was small. Not for long, but you were a teenager then."

"I knew it - I knew you," Dani confirmed. "I thought that day here in the foyer…."

"The day Charlie shot his father," they said in unison.

Charlie monitored their talk as he flipped pancakes. So far this was nothing he didn't know and they weren't fighting - so that was good.

Sarah didn't care. She played tug of war with the puppy using a kitchen towel, until Charlie scolded her.

"I always thought you were a cousin or niece or something," Dani explained. "I was a teenager. I didn't listen to my parents about anything."

"Nope, not a cousin," Rachel mumbled unsure of how much more to say.

"He brought you to our house to hide you, after your family was…" Dani explored and expanded her knowledge. Things she'd known all along, but things she didn't know she knew – _Crews would love that_ she thought.

"Yeah," Rachel confirmed, "yep."

"My god," Dani exhaled. "Is anything what we think it is?"

"Welcome to my life," Rachel commented wryly.

"Pancakes are ready," Sarah announced, just about the time Dani's mother rounded the corner and saw Rachel. Her recognition was instantaneous. She paled and her hands covered her heart. She said something under her breath in Farsi that Dani recognized as a prayer.

"Mom…" Dani asked her mother for an answer she already knew. "You know her don't you?"

The answer was a string of Farsi spoken so fast that neither Charlie nor Sarah nor Rachel could repeat a single syllable. It even took Dani a moment to digest the litany, but her anger was instant.

"You knew. You knew he didn't do it and you let him go to prison," her voice rose as she got more furious at the injustice done to the man she loved. "Get out of my house. Right now," she shouted. "Get the hell out of my house." It didn't even register to her that it was Charlie's house she was throwing her mother out of.

Sarah hid behind Charlie's leg. She'd never seen Dani angry, never seen her shout or lose her temper before. Charlie, of course, had - but this was a mighty fearsome display even from his perspective. He lifted her Sarah up and whispered something in her ear. She pulled back and looked at him, before hugging him tightly. He put her down and his brave little girl walked over to her mother who was literally quaking with anger and engaged her.

"Mommy?" Sarah questioned commanding her mother's attention and refocusing Dani beyond the instant problem, which was rage at the unfairness visited upon Charlie Crews while so many people stood by quietly, guiltily and did nothing to help him. "Mommy, I'm scared. Are you okay?"

Simultaneously, Crews carefully and expertly navigated past Rachel, snagged his keys, took Mrs. Reese by the elbow telling her quietly, "I'll take you home."

She did not resist. In the car, Mrs. Reese asked him the obvious question. "How can my daughter be so angry, so passionate about this and you are not?"

"Anger doesn't serve me. Anger serves only itself. It robs me of my joys. It steals the goodness of my mind and forces my mouth to say terrible things. Overcoming anger allows me to focus on the good things in my life – on Dani and Sarah. And I can't go back there and I can't change what happened."

"None of us can," she replied her voice shaky and uncertain. "I will forever be ashamed of the things I've seen and not shared."

"But you didn't do those things, he did," Charlie gave her an out.

"My husband was not always the man he is now," she excused him because she loved him. In that way, all loves are blind and they are all the same.

"Neither am I," he replied levelly.

"You love my daughter?" she asked in a straightforward way that was refreshing.

"I do," he acknowledge something no one could deny.

"Is there anything you would not do for her?" She laid the dilemma squarely at his feet. There was no answer; there was no need for one. Everyone in that car knew there wasn't anything Charlie Crews wouldn't do for his partner. In that moment, he forgave her and he knew in time so would Dani – in time, but not today.


	26. Chapter 25

He came back home to a quiet house. He tread lightly through the stone floors of the house, finding Sarah and her puppy snuggled up on the couch with Rachel watching "Old Yeller" on DVD. He smirked at Sarah, because their little inside joke about rabies was now funny to them all. She smiled back. From her smile he knew that Dani had found a useful and constructive outlet for her anger. Rachel waved but did not engage him, she simply pointed to the patio.

He found Dani on the patio staring out at the hills. She was dripping with sweat and she had obviously been running. Her iPod lay on the tabletop nearby, but for now she was listening to the sound of the wind. She was dressed in tight black shorts and a white tank top. She looked hot, both sexually and physically, but he made a point of forgetting his arousal until a more appropriate time. She sensed him behind her and glanced briefly at him before returning to her study of the horizon.

"Hey," he opened softly.

"Thank you," she was genuinely grateful for the relief he provided by taking her mother home. She was in a better place now emotionally and he could sense it.

"Your house?" he questioned in a light joking tone.

She snorted a short laugh. "You would focus on that aspect. Not what she's done."

"What she did…was stand by her man," he offered a polite defense.

Her double take and scoff made him explain further.

"It can't have been easy for a Persian woman to marry to an Irish Catholic cop…"

"…who abused her, who belittled and berated her," she continued. She shrugged and exhaled, "I know, I know."

"You have that Irish temper of your father's," he noted.

"Smart move though…sending the kid," she tipped her hat at his technique for defusing her anger.

"You'd have kicked MY ass," he laughed. By the time he finished the comment he was standing behind her trailing his fingers down her bare arms. "She's brave like you," he noted of Sarah. "And she knows you love her and you'd never hurt her."

"Is that what you told her?"

"Um-hmm," he confirmed in a low tone getting closer to her. "So….your house?" he revisited his initial comment.

"Aren't you the one who keeps asking me to marry him?"

"Aren't you the one who keeps saying no?"

"If I said, yes….you'd shit a brick," she taunted.

"Try me," he teased back and then they were at the edge of the precipice again.

"Fine," she said.

"Fine," he repeated.

Empty air hung between them.

"I need a shower," she disconnected.

"Wait," he called after her. "Did you..? Are we…? Did you just say yes?"

She didn't stop, she didn't answer, she just kept right on walking.

He stood alone on the patio in the hot sun replaying that conversation in his mind. After a moment, a grin began to creep across his face; one that nothing could erase – not today. His partner had just consented to marry him; he was sure of it. There was no date set, no arrangement made, no profession of love, just agreement that they were now…and would be in the future together. _For as long as they both shall live_, if Charlie had his way.


	27. Chapter 26

"I JUST want you to take her to the park," Dani demanded of her mate. "My head is killing me and all that laughing and barking is…"

"Driving you crazy?" he knew where she was headed.

"And Charlie? Take the dog," she pled with him unnecessarily.

"Yes, princess," he joked with Dani.

Charlie scooped the puppy up with one hand and looked it in the face. "You're killing me here, man," he told the dog. "Could you channel less of the devil today maybe?" He put the pup down and yelled, "Sarah."

Dani growled. Her head really was killing her.

Charlie looked at her sheepishly and mouthed, "I'm sorry."

Sarah came tromping down the stairs in galoshes and a rain slicker.

"Did I miss something?" Charlie looked from the girl to the open front door with bright LA sunlight streaming through.

"Uncle Ted says there's a chance of rain today," Sarah announced.

"Ted's home?" Charlie inquired of Dani.

"Yeah, yep," she stood holding the front door open squinting into the sunlight. "He…uh…he got in last night and…. I don't know how you missed that," she stopped talking as him asking himself the same question overlapped her speaking.

"How did I miss that?" He stopped as he noticed he'd talked over her and said the exact same thing. "That's a little freaky isn't it?"

She nodded mutely. "Little bit," she noted.

He stepped a little closer, then realized that Sarah was still standing there. "Go upstairs and take that get up off," he directly firmly. He wore an impressive scowl letting her know he meant business. She turned and trudged back upstairs.

Dani smirked, "you're getting really good at that."

"I'm a natural," he crowed. Then he returned to his focus on her. He stepped closer, running his hands up and down her arms lightly and murmured. "Now how did I miss something like Ted coming home?"

"Cause you sleep like the dead," she chuckled and put her head in the middle of his chest against his sternum. She could feel his heart beat strongly in the quietness of their house, which was quickly becoming a home.

"You mean after you use and abuse me in bed," he teased, "I'm too exhausted. You wear me out woman." He kissed her neck after sweeping her hair out of the way.

"Hey, where's my car?" he suddenly noticed the missing Maserati.

"Rachel took it to…" Dani answered. "I forget where… the beach maybe?"

"We've totally lost control of these children," he noted wrapping his arms around her and smiling against her neck. "One's dressed for the flood and one step away from having us build her an ark and the other is at the beach in a Maserati. I think I'm not doing this Dad thing right."

"I think you do it better than most," she assured him.

"But…." he asked.

"But we're both swimming in the deep end of the pool with kids," she joked.

"Want me to get Malibu Barbie back here for swim lessons?"

"Do it…and they'll find you buried in the backyard," she threatened with lightness in her tone and a smile on her face. "I just need some alone time."

"I get that," he continued to nuzzle her neck. "I'll take her and El Diablo to the park. I'll make sure we're gone for a couple hours. If you need more, I can drop the dog with Ted and take her to a movie."

"You'd willingly go to a two hour cartoon?" she wondered.

"Sweetheart, I'd take a bullet for you," he said proudly. "Come to think of it, a bullet might be less painful…" he talked just to keep the conversation going.

Suddenly, without them noticing Sarah was standing in front of them.

"Can you please stop all this kissing?" she sounded annoyed. "It's gross."

"Since it's obviously gonna rain," Charlie gestured to the bright noonday sun beaming through the front door. "What'd you say we leave the pup with Uncle Ted and go to the movies?"

Sarah nodded eagerly and began chatting about some cartoon Charlie neither knew nor recognized. Charlie rolled his eyes, ushered her to the car, strapped her in the car seat of Dani's Toyota. "Say bye to Mommy," he directed. Sarah waved from her seat and blew kisses. Dani waved back and shut the door.

Finally, the house was quiet.

In truth, Dani's headache didn't come from the sunshine or Sarah's laughter or the puppy barking; it came from what came next. The shadow that covered their life would come into the light and she would have to deal with it – with him.

She pulled the Maserati out of the garage and parked it conspicuously in the driveway. She loaded her pistol, press checked it and pulled a chair to the center of the room facing the door, sat down and waited. The trap was set. Now all she had to do was wait.


	28. Chapter 27

Ninety minutes later, the door quietly opened. Dani trained her gun on the silhouette in the bright sun. The cop in her was trained not to shoot until she'd identified her target and something didn't feel quite right. She held.

"I'm not….I forgot…I'm sorry," Ted stammered. "I'll just go back out and knock."

Dani exhaled, she lowered her weapon. "I'm not gonna shoot you."

Ted sighed in fear and relief. He then presciently asked, "but you're gonna shoot someone else?"

She scowled at him.

"Charlie's where?"

"Movies with Sarah," she replied only what was required.

"Rachel is…" he led.

"At the beach," Dani was starting to get angry with him and he could tell.

"I just came to bring the dog back," he offered shyly.

"Why? Is he eating your place?" Dani caustically joked.

"Who are you planning to shoot?"

She glared, but did not respond.

"Someone that you didn't want your partner here for," he posited. "Someone that only you can kill, not Charlie. You're waiting for your father," he sounded surprised as he figured it out and then surer as he arrived at the conclusion.

Dani just stared at him. From her look he could tell she was seriously considering leveling her weapon at him again instead of just her dark glare.

"Tell me why," he demanded suddenly.

"Why in the hell?" she began "Why the hell would I tell you?"

"Because if you do," he boldly stated, "maybe…I'll go back to my place and forget we had this conversation. Maybe…"

Dani considered his threat and if he'd stand behind it. He was Charlie's best, perhaps only, real friend – and he'd survived six years in federal prison, so he could not be the complete goof everyone took him for. She tucked her tongue in her cheek and thought about it. Ted shifted uncomfortably, but did not back down.

"My father wants to kill Charlie. Rayborn is trying to bait Charlie into killing him. If Charlie kills him, he maybe goes back to jail. If my father kills Charlie…I don't know what happens, but that's not going to happen," she confessed. "Now get the hell out of my house before I really do shoot you," she threatened.

"Oh, okay…" he agreed. "I'll just do that."

"And take the dog, please," she pled with him. The black and white pup sat sadly at Ted's feet and shied away when he tried to pick it up. "Go on, it's okay," she quietly reassured the little dog.

They left, the house stilled again and Dani returned to her vigil.

* * *

Ninety minutes later, Jack Reese, gun drawn, entered Charlie Crews' house. His intent was to find Crews and extinguish his life.

That was not how his day turned out.

Dani Reese fired first, from a seated position, she hit him squarely in the chest, and then she adjusted and fired again – lower – hitting him in the gut. He went down hard on the marble floor, his gun clattering on the hard surface and skittering into a corner. He never even got a shot off.

"Jesus," he breathed hard. The shock was apparent in his voice, "you shot me."

"Twice," she corrected dispassionately.

"Call a friggin paramedic Dani," he demanded.

"No," she had ice in her voice. "You're going to die right here, right now."

"I'm not screwing around kid," a tiny bit of blood began to appear at the corner of his mouth. He wiped at it with his hand.

"That's blood from your lungs making its way out. Your lung is punctured and it's collapsing. It's a toss up whether that will kill you before the shot in your gut will, but you'll be well beyond saving before I make that call." Her eyes were dark and serious.

He gasped a couple of times, swearing softly and saving his breath.

"I know what you wanted. I know why you came here. Did you really think I'd let you just walk in here and take him?" She was wound up and she was going to have her say. His participation was not essential to the dialogue that ran in her brain. "You and Rayborn wanted him to come after you – that way if you kill him, you'd win and if he killed you, he'd go back to prison. You'd win again. That's really all that's important to you isn't it? Winning?" There was contained fury in her voice. Coiled energy and profound hate.

"Dani," he choked. "Help me…"

"I am helping you, Dad. You are a rabid dog and you have to be put down. It hurts me to do it, but I'm the only one who can. And when I make that call…your man Tidwell won't be able to say what he knows without divulging the fact he's been on your payroll. He'll cover for me, because it's self-serving."

His hand fell away from his stomach where he'd been holding his wound. The large dark stain spread across the marble. His eyes became glassy and then Dani made the call.

"This is Detective Dani Reese," she gave her badge number. "A man broke into my partner's house, I shot him. I think he's down, but…" she gave the address and agreed to stay on the line. She'd thought a long time about how this was going to end and concluded that it had to end with her. "I didn't get a good look at him, but I think he's… he looks like…. No, that's not possible," her dialogue was well rehearsed and she knew it would be poured over on the 911 tape by IAD. There were long moments of empty air, but Dani Reese was comfortable with silence. The 911 operator asked if she was okay. She answered in the affirmative. "I can hear the sirens," she told the 911 operator. "I'm hanging up now…"

Even with lights and sirens they would be too late to save the former SWAT Captain.

She snapped the phone closed and leaned very close and as his breath wheezed and whined in his chest she delivered the fatal blow. "You lose Dad. Fatherhood is more than producing a child; it's what you do every day after - that really matters. He's my choice. You'll never know why, but then you never cared to know. I could have let you fade away, but you kept coming and I will always protect my family – even from you. "

She pushed away and watched the light go out in his eyes. She knew he was dead. She tried to feel regret, but what she felt was relief. She breathed deeply and a shudder passed through her. She met the police at the door, the paramedics rushed in and a flurry of activity happened very quickly.

"He surprised me. I thought he was someone after me," she said dully. She'd just escaped from kidnapping by a Russian gangster. PTSD and hyper-vigilance would be normal for her. To react protectively would be reasonable, even expected. She kept her statements short and neutral.

Tidwell arrived within twenty minutes. He reacted just as she knew he would. Because in protecting her, he protected himself. They took her gun, but left her alone.

Charlie pulled into the drive and flew out of the car.

She met him in the driveway. "I'm fine," she assured him. "Take Sarah to my mother's," she directed.

"Who's in there?" he asked breathlessly.

"My father," she replied leaning against his shoulder.

"Huh?" he didn't seem to absorb what she'd said.

"He came here to kill you. I shot first," she said very quietly just for his ears.

"You?" he croaked hoarsely.

"Take Sarah to my mother's. Don't tell her what happened," she looked hard at him to make certain he would do as she asked.

He nodded and kissed her forehead. He pushed away and pasted a false smile on his face. "Hey, munchkin," he spoke loudly and gaily to Sarah, "Change in plans, we're going to Gramma's house." She heard him talking to Sarah as he got back in the car, "Mommy's fine. No, there are no coyotes. Yes, I'm sure," he reassured her, protecting her, guarding her from knowledge of things that would hurt her. "The policemen are just here visiting mommy. She's a policeman, you know."

Dani waved to them both and he winked at her as he drove off.

"I'm gonna suspend you Dani," Tidwell spoke to her from behind.

"No kidding," she said caustically.

"What is it with you and Crews? Both of you guys shooting your fathers? Seriously… what the hell?"

She did not respond for a long moment. Then she said what she knew was her strongest defense, the only one she needed. "You, of all people know that my father has been MIA for months. He came here unannounced and startled me. After what just happened with Roman I'm understandably jumpy." She dared him to question her story.

He didn't. He stared long and hard. "Yeah…. IAD is gonna want to talk to you. Until they clear this as a justified shooting I'm gonna need your shield," he said solemnly.

She went upstairs and retrieved it.

As she handed the badge over, he asked her a question. "Do you need someone to come with you over to your mother's?"

She shook her head no. "I have someone."

"Crews, right?" he couldn't help the tone that crept into his voice. "Well, now you are both suspended and I don't think he's gonna be invited back."

"I don't think a man with his kind of money really needs to worry about whether LAPD is going to invite him back to a low paying job with crap hours and no real benefits to speak of," she replied sarcastically.

"Is this really where things end?" Tidwell asked her pointedly.

"No," she said calmly. "This is where things begin."


	29. Epilogue

Sarah stayed the night with her grandmother.

It was dark by the time Charlie found Dani sitting alone in the kitchen. The pool of Jack Reese's blood had been cleaned up – most of it. There was a ring of dried blood, which stubbornly refused to come up. She'd abandoned it and was staring blindly out the window at the patio when he came in. The house was dark, but the pool lights reflected a pale green cast into the kitchen.

"Hey," he said softly.

"Hey," she responded in a daze.

"Whatcha looking at honey?" he inquired cautiously.

"Your friends," she replied.

He stepped closer and noticed a coyote mom and some pups sitting at the edge of the patio. "That's why they attacked," he understood her fascination. "Family."

"Yeah," she said softly, her reply was barely audible.

He sunk to his knees and pulled her into his arms. "I'm so sorry."

"Charlie," she confessed. "I had to protect my family."

"I know, honey. I know," he assured her. "Come on. I'll get this in the morning."

He pulled her by the hand to a shaky standing position and then slowly toward the stairs. He stopped, dropped her hand, walked to the door and locked it.

"I told Rachel to make herself scarce for a couple days," she admitted her scheme. "I gave her all the money in your wallet."

"Yes," he teased lightly. "Luckily, I noticed that before we endured ninety minutes of some cartoon this afternoon. Ninety minutes of my life that I will never get back."

She smiled, but seemed far away, "I'm sorry."

"You have been through a lot today," he brushed aside any shame she felt.

"I meant about lying to you," she clarified. "I wanted to tell you, but I know you… I know you too god damned well Charlie. You'd have never let me handle this."

"Not because I don't trust you," he qualified, "because I didn't want this to be a weight you have to bear."

"It's always been there. The realization that someday it would come down to the two of us. Now it's gone. You know, I would have been content to just let him go. To live and let live, but he was never going to leave us alone. He wasn't going to stop, ever."

"I know, honey," he replied kissing her gently.

"You did what no one else seemed to be able to do. You found the answer no one thought of. I just wish…" he trailed off.

"I didn't have to be the one to pull the trigger," she offered.

"Yeah," he exhaled. He held her close and rocked her against his chest. "Your mom knows. I didn't tell her, she just knows," he tried to explain the unexplainable.

"All my life, my mother has told me that one day my father and I would have it out and one or both of us was not going to survive it," Dani explained. "In some ways, she always knew this was coming."

"Did he hurt you?" Charlie asked cautiously.

"Tonight?"

"Ever," Crews qualified his question.

"Constantly," she said, but it wasn't a real answer. "That's no reason to do what I did. It's...there's no reason good enough to kill someone."

"True," Charlie agreed, "but sometimes it's kill or be killed and I know what that's like." He waited a moment and then asked her, "Do you think you'll be indicted?"

"No," she answered succinctly and confidently. "I think I will pay a little every day for this, but not to the State of California or the City of LA. I think I'll pay with my soul and I think the cost will be severe."

"I have a lot more than just money," he offered. "I can help you pay that price. I know how to get past it."

"Aren't you gonna tell me that I'm already past it?" her humor wad maudlin and twisted.

"I think that…I want to think that….but some times I'm still there too," he mused thoughtfully, "in the past."

"Charlie, you know what I'd like?" she gripped his hand, "what I need?"

Their eyes met and he did. "I'll go get her." He climbed from their bed, dressed and kissed her gently on the forehead. "I'll be home soon and we'll all be together, our family," he recited what he knew her heart needed. He left quickly and quietly, locking the door behind him. In his hand he held a house key he'd never carried before. It was a moment for him; a profound one. Inside that house was the one woman he'd love forever, on the other side of town was a little girl who the sun rose and set upon for them both. They were what mattered; they were all that mattered.

Forty minutes later he carried a sleeping four-year-old girl into the house, relocked his front door and ascended the stairs to place her in the arms of her waiting mother. Dani sighed, wrapped Sarah in her arms and a shudder escaped her as silent tears began to fall. Charlie shed his pants and jackets and climbed into bed gathering his family in his arms. As he relaxed, the first rays of sunshine began breaking through the window bathing them in their warm glow. They slept long in the sun, but when their day began anew it would be together and in light... for all of them had walked too long in the darkness.


End file.
